Czech Republic Abandons Nuclear 'Boom' Plans

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The Czech Republic's ambitious plans to roll out a fleet of new nuclear power plants have been abandoned by the government's new Minister for Industry and Trade.

Martin Kuba has announced that his predecessor's goal to build up to 18 new reactors throughout the country in the coming decades no longer makes sense in the current environment. Speaking to the Czech media, Kuba said the plans were 'unrealistic'. The country is already under pressure from its neighbours, non-nuclear Austria and Germany, which last year announced its exit from the nuclear power sector, not to proceed with any nuclear expansion.

"For the Czech Republic to produce up to 80 per cent of its electricity from nuclear is not realistic from an economic perspective," Kuba told Hospodářské noviny. "We would not even know where to put the new plants."

Instead, Kuba believes that the project to build two new reactors, Units 3 and 4, at the existing Temelin nuclear plant in southern Bohemia, is the way forward. The plant is owned and operated by Czech energy giant CEZ AS (PRG:BAACEZ) (Prague) which announced last November that it has formally invited tenders from three approved suppliers before the July 2, 2012 deadline. They include France's Areva SA (EPA:CEI) (Paris, France), U.S. company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Monroeville, Pennsylvania) and the MIR.1200 Consortium comprising SKODA JS a.s. (Czech Republic) and Russian companies JSC Atomstroyexport (Moscow) and JSC OKB Gidropress (Moscow). For additional information see, November 7, 2011, article - CEZ Invites Bidders for Temelin Nuclear Project.

Temelin is a 2,000 MW facility located in South Bohemia -- just 50 kilometres from the Austrian border - and is the biggest power producer in the Czech Republic. It uses VVER-1000, Type V 320 pressurised water reactors. The plant was originally designed to have four reactor but this was blocked by the government back in 1993. CEZ only won its battle to proceed with Units 3 and 4 in 2009. For additional information, see April 13, 2009, article - CEZ Wins Approval to Finish Controversial Temelin Nuclear Power Plant.

CEZ would also like to build up to two new units at the older Dukovany plant, after the Temelin project.

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