The Vienna regional court ruled in favour of the spokeswoman of the opposition Green Party, Eva Glawischnig, who brought a complaint in 1998 that the plant constituted "a danger to the people and the property" of neighbouring Austria.

It ruled that the direction of the power plant should assure that the safety at the plant "by taking the necessary measures to ensure that radio-active leaks do not occur again."

"This means that either the plant should conform to safety norms or it should be shut down," Glawischnig said Wednesday. "This is made very clear by the ruling."

She said the ruling set a precedent because it was the first time in the history of the European Union that a court has ruled that a nuclear plant in one country could pose a danger to the people of another.

Glawischnig said "there was not a shadow of a doubt" that the ruling should be obeyed by Bratislava.

"In commercial matters a Slovakian company is obliged to implement a court ruling handed down against it in Vienna, this is an everyday occurrence," she said.

"But is good to see that now this also applies to the nuclear industry," she added.

Austria banned nuclear energy following a referendum on the subject in 1978, which the government lost.

The country is unhappy about the fact its neighbours operate nuclear power plants close to its borders and that it has no control over them.

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