Czech Temelín upgrades control system, adds equipment in first unit's server room

A multi-billion-Kč upgrade is under way at the Temelín nuclear power plant. It began in 2021 and is due to be completed next year. Engineers have now installed nine new cabinets in the area housing the main servers in the plant’s first unit. This is one of the key steps in upgrading the control system supplied by Westinghouse. Temelín will also complete the installation of 80 kilometres of cables this year. Plant spokesperson Marek Sviták informed journalists of the developments today.

The new system will begin taking over control of the plant next year. The new control cabinets were tested in Bulgaria. In recent days, contractors have placed nine cabinets in the first unit. Each weighs more than 400 kilograms and is over two metres tall. „They are now in position. We will gradually fit them out and put them into operation. Specialists are installing internal components, especially network switches and servers,“ said Jan Kruml, director of the Temelín nuclear power plant. The test centre is also complete.

ČEZ is modernising the plant to ensure it can operate for at least 60 years. In terms of both technology and scale, this is one of the most challenging nuclear power plant control-system upgrades in the world, said ČEZ board member Bohdan Zronek. The upgrade includes 80 kilometres of new cables, three-quarters of which have been laid. The plant will fully switch over to the new control system in 2029.

The original control system, now being upgraded at Temelín, was supplied by Westinghouse. When the plant was being built, more than 30 years ago, Pavel Pavel—known for making the statues on Easter Island move—helped move the control cabinets. He helped shift some of the systems, some weighing several tonnes, into enclosed rooms. „It wasn’t possible to use machinery, so we resorted to ropes and levers, much like the indigenous people of Easter Island many hundreds of years ago,“ Pavel Pavel said. At the time, the cabinets were several times heavier than today’s. This time, the engineers did not need Pavel Pavel’s help; workers from I&C Energo handled the cabinet move, the plant spokesperson said.

Temelín is the country’s largest electricity producer, covering about one-fifth of domestic consumption. Last year it generated 16.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity; so far this year, it has generated 1.2 TWh.