Czechia pushes ahead with plans to expand its reliance on nuclear energy. Mobile drilling rigs have been extracting samples 140 metres below ground for a geological survey to make sure the site is suitable for a 19 billion USD project as part of the expansion that should eventually at least double the country’s nuclear output and cement its place among Europe’s most nuclear-dependent nations.

South Korea’s KHNP beat France’s EDF in a tender to construct a new plant whose two reactors will have an output of over 1,000 megawatts each. After becoming operational in the second half 2030s, they will complement Dukovany’s four 512-MW reactors that date from the 1980s.

The KHNP deal gives the Czechs an option to have two more units built at the other nuclear plant in Temelín, which currently has two 1,000-megawatt reactors.

Then, they are set to follow up with small modular nuclear reactors.

“Nuclear will generate between 50 per cent and 60 per cent (of energy) around 2050 in the Czechia, or maybe slightly more," Petr Závodský, chief executive of the Dukovany project, told The Associated Press in an interview.

The nuclear expansion is needed to help the country wean itself off fossil fuels, secure steady, reliable supplies at a reasonable price, meet low-emission requirements, and enable robust demand for electricity expected in the coming years to power data centres and electric cars, Závodský said.

The Czech expansion comes at a time when surging energy demand and looming deadlines by countries and companies to sharply cut carbon pollution are helping to revive interest in nuclear technology.

While nuclear power does produce waste, it does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change.

The European Union has accepted nuclear energy by including it in the classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities, opening the door to financing. That has been a boost for Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and France — the continent’s nuclear leader — that have heavily relied on nuclear.

Belgium and Sweden recently scrapped plans to phase out nuclear power. Denmark and Italy are reconsidering their use, while Poland is set to join a club of 12 nuclear-friendly nations in the European Union after signing a deal with US-based Westinghouse to build three nuclear units.

The EU generated 24 per cent of its electricity from nuclear electricity in 2024.

CEZ, the dominant Czech power company in which the government holds a 70 per cent stake, and Britain’s Rolls-Royce SMR have agreed on a strategic partnership to develop and deploy small modular nuclear reactors.

The cost of the Dukovany project is estimated at over 16 billion EUR, with the government agreeing to acquire an 80 per cent majority in the new plant.

The government will secure a loan for the new units that CEZ will repay over 30 years. The state will also guarantee a stable income from the electricity production for CEZ for 40 years. Approval is expected to be granted by the EU, which aims to become “climate-neutral” by 2050.

“We’re in a good position to argue that we won’t be able to do without new nuclear units,” Závodský said.

“Today, we get some 40 per cent electricity from nuclear, but we also currently get another 40 per cent from coal. It’s clear we have to replace the coal.”

Czechia is looking to phase out coal by 2033.

Delivered by CzechTrade Canada.
Source: EuroNews.