Czech finance ministry to present funding plan for second Dukovany unit in November

The Ministry of Finance will present a proposal to the government by the end of November on financing construction of a second new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant. The proposal will be based on the already approved financing for the first unit, although it will not be entirely the same. Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS) told reporters today. South Korean company KHNP is to build the new nuclear units at Dukovany, with the semi-state energy company ČEZ as the investor.

Stanjura said preparation of the financing model had been slowed by the September floods, to which the ministry had to respond. However, he said the original timetable for submitting the proposal to the government still stands, after which Czechia will ask the European Commission to approve the financing model. Under preliminary plans, the state would finance construction through repayable loans.

At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred plan to build two reactors is 400 billion crowns. The first of the new reactors at Dukovany is expected to be completed in 2036. Over the next three to five years, energy company ČEZ is also expected to negotiate with the Koreans, in line with a government decision, an option to build two more units at Temelín.

The government decided in July to build two new nuclear reactors. It chose the bid from South Korea's KHNP over that of France's EDF, while the other bidder, US company Westinghouse, had already been excluded from the competition. Both companies challenged the tender result with the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), which has so far rejected their complaints in a non-final ruling. However, a preliminary injunction remains in force, prohibiting ČEZ from signing a contract with KHNP; it will expire only once a final ruling has been issued.