Czech Republic

31 December 2022
 

The Czech Republic has six operable reactors: two VVER-1000 units at Temelin, 100 km south of Prague; and four VVER-440 units at Dukovany, 30 km west of Brno.

The government’s long-term energy strategy, adopted in 2015, forecasts the need to increase the share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix to 50-55% by 2050. In February 2023 Czech utility CEZ announced that it planned to invest around $100 million into Dukovany 4 to extend the unit's operational lifetime to 60 years, to 2047.

In November 2022 three vendors – EDF, Westinghouse and Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power – submitted initial bids to build a new reactor at Dukovany. Final bids are expected by September 2023.

The country is also planning the construction of its first SMR, with Temelin a potential site. In February 2023 CEZ identified the coal-fired power plants at Dětmarovice and Tušimice as the preferred locations for a second and third SMR, with CEZ hoping to get the sites up and running by the second half of the 2030s. The country has committed to phasing out coal power generation by 2033.

In March 2023 CEZ signed an agreement with Westinghouse for the supply of VVER-440 fuel assemblies to Dukovany from 2024. This followed a similar agreement made in April 2022 for Westinghouse and Framatome to supply Temelin.

Figure Cz2. Average capacity factor of reactors in Czech Republic

Figure Cz3. Emissions avoidance through use of nuclear generation in Czech Republic

WNN Links

ČEZ increases investment in Dukovany, 16-month fuel cycles : World Nuclear News - 2 February 2023

Westinghouse to supply fuel to Czech Republic's Dukovany : World Nuclear News - 30 March 2023

ČEZ identifies two further preferred SMR sites : World Nuclear News - 28 February 2023