CEZ Applies to Build Two New Nuclear Reactors at Dukovany

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The Czech Republic's state-owned energy company CEZ AS (Prague) has applied for permission to build two new nuclear units at the Dukovany nuclear power station.

It has applied to the State Office for Nuclear Safety after five years of preparations and hopes to construct two pressurised water reactors, each rated at 1,200 megawatts (MW). Dukovany already has four VVER-440 units operating at its site in Vysočina Region. Operational life for those existing units is expected to be extended to 60 years, when they will be retired from 2045 onwards. The Czech Republic gets around one-third of its power from the Dukovany plant and two additional units at the Temelin nuclear plant.

CEZ stated that it has also published the extensive documentation--around 1,600 pages--which was attached to the application. Over 30 experts from CEZ and other institutions contributed to the documents, which includes more than 200 expert studies and analyses.

"As with any environmental impact assessment, our goal in licensing is to maximize openness and transparency, which is why we have also published the entire Tender Safety Report so that the public can freely access the key document," explained Daniel Beneš, chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of ČEZ.

The authorisation documentation has around 1,600 pages. Over 30 experts from ČEZ and other institutions contributed to the documents, including the Water Research Institute, T.G. Masaryk University, and ÚJV Řež. The supporting documentation consists of more than 200 expert studies and analyses.

In order to determine the subsoil's condition, geological drilling was carried out at more than170 spots for total length of more than four kilometres (km). Thirty deep wells were also drilled in order to monitor groundwater, with a depth of up to 150 metres and total length of almost 2 km. Exploratory drilling was done at another 66 locations in the surrounding area, while over 1,300 containers were used to store rock samples (drill cores). Twenty geological exploratory trenches were also excavated, supplemented by more than 50 measurements along a length of over 20 km.

"The fact that four nuclear power blocks are already operating at the Dukovany location has only partially assisted us," said Petr Závodský, chief executive officer of EDU II, which is a subsidiary of CEZ. "Of course, the advantage was the large amount of input data available to us, and we could also draw from a number of reports, findings and stress test results. However, we also needed to do a comprehensive analysis of all the requirements of the Czech nuclear legislation and the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency and many other institutions. For us, defensibility of the project internationally is crucial."

A reactor vendor is expected to be chosen in 2022. A number of companies have shown interest in the project, including China General Nuclear, EDF, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Rosatom and Westinghouse.

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