Czechia will welcome the construction of four nuclear power units at the existing Dukovany power plant instead of the one initially planned, the Czech government decided Thursday while confirming it will no longer pursue bidding talks with US power company Westinghouse.
With this decision, the Czech Republic amended its tender and invited bidders to submit a binding offer for the construction of up to four new reactors – of which two should be located in Dukovany while the other two would be set up in Temelín, Czechia’s second existing power plant.
“The tendering process so far shows that supplying multiple reactors simultaneously could provide us with a price reduction of up to one-quarter for a single reactor. We have therefore decided to ask bidders to submit binding offers for the supply of up to four new nuclear reactors,” said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS, ECR).
“On the basis of these, we will then select a supplier and decide whether or not to have more reactors built,” Fiala said on Wednesday after the government’s meeting.
Another change concerns the three companies involved in the tender as the cabinet turned only to French company EDF and South Korean company KHNP but failed to approach Westinghouse.
According to the government, the US bid did not meet the tender conditions.
Westinghouse’s bid did not identify the entity responsible for the quality of the work, the government said, with Czech Trade and Industry Minister Jozef Síkela saying Westinghouse’s offer was not binding and, therefore, could not be compared in the evaluation.
Westinghouse’s failure to meet the conditions is a shock as it was among the favourites and is expected to build nuclear plants in neighbouring Poland.
KNHP and EDF, the two remaining in the race, have been given until 15 April to submit new bids, which will be assessed by Czechia’s partly state-owned energy company ČEZ, which itself must submit the evaluation of the bids for the four units to the government by the end of May.
But while the tender’s winner is set to be confirmed by mid-2024, the first planned unit should be completed in 2036, and the others in stages by 2050.
While ČEZ stated that the price of one unit could reach €6.5 billion, it is now expected to be higher as the initial calculation is from 2020 and does not reflect current prices. If Czechia confirms the construction of four units, it would be the largest investment in Czech history.
(Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz)
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