Neutron Bytes also reported in late 2022 that final bids are due next year and contract with winning technology provider could be awarded by 2024 (NucNet) France’s EDF, South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and US-based group Westinghouse Electric have made initial bids to build a new reactor unit at the Czech Republic’s Dukovany nuclear power station.
CEZ said Elektrárna Dukovany II, the wholly owned subsidiary set up to implement the new-build project, will now analyze the bids and negotiate with the three bidders. The bidders will then submit final bids in September 2023. Majority state-owned CEZ, which launched the Dukovany expansion tender in March, said it expects the contracts to be awarded in 2024. The initial bids are the basis for clarifying technical and commercial parameters, but not for the actual selection or exclusion of contractors,
EDF’s reactor technology is the EPR, KHNP’s the APR-1400 and Westinghouse’s the AP1000. All three reactor types have seen commercial operation or are under construction in different countries. Two EPRs and four AP1000s are commercially operational in China, while the APR-1400 is operated commercially in South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Additionally, a EPR new build project is near completion at Flamanville in France, while construction is under way of two EPR units at Hinkley Point C in England. Two APR-1400s are in the commissioning stage and two are operating commercially at Barakah in the UAE.
China And Russia Excluded From Bidding
State-owned companies from China and Russia were excluded from bidding on security grounds, in contrast to Hungary which has chosen Russia’s Rosatom for its nuclear project. Poland recently chose Westinghouse for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power station near its Baltic Sea coastline. Poland also chose KHNP for a nuclear power station at a separate site.
CEZ plans to build three more nuclear units – on top of the one now planned – at its Dukovany and Temelín nuclear sites, as the country diversifies away from coal. Financing for these ambitious plans is still to be determined. The company said recently that preparations were underway for the construction of two large-scale nuclear units at Temelín in addition to one or two new units at Dukovany.
CEZ is also planning to build small modular reactor plants. It signed MOUs to explore various SMR technology options with reactor developers NuScale, GE Hitachi, Rolls-Royce and Holtec.
The Czech Republic has six commercially operational reactor units: four Russian supplied VVER units at Dukovany and two larger Russian VVER-1000 units at Temelín. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, in 2019 the six units provided about 35% of the country’s electricity production.
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