A factory for small modular reactors could be built near a South Bohemian airport in Czechia

A factory for small modular reactors could be built near a South Bohemian airport. ČEZ and British company Rolls-Royce SMR will build a small modular reactor (SMR) next to the Temelín nuclear power plant. Construction is expected to begin in 2029 and be completed in 2034. Rolls-Royce SMR will also build additional service and development centres needed to ensure timely deliveries. This could create up to 3,000 skilled jobs in South Bohemia. Representatives of the South Bohemian Region, Rolls-Royce SMR and the ČEZ Group presented opportunities for cooperation today.

„We want to be the first region in Europe where a small modular reactor is built. As a region, we have several advantages. A nuclear power plant has been operating here for a long time, so there is a well-educated workforce with experience in the sector. Secondly, this is the only place in Czechia approved for SMR construction. And thirdly, the airport has a huge amount of land ready for industrial development, all of it owned by the region, so we can offer it for something like an SMR factory,“ said Martin Kuba (ODS), governor of the South Bohemian Region.

Thanks to their smaller size, 70 percent of modular reactors can be built in a factory, with the rest completed on site. This could also create opportunities for a number of South Bohemian companies. „We are not doing this for just one SMR at Temelín. We are doing it because ČEZ and Rolls-Royce SMR should in future supply these technologies to every location where they are built. That means we could succeed in establishing an SMR factory in South Bohemia and involving South Bohemian companies in the supply chain as SMRs are exported across Europe,“ Kuba added.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors with an electrical output of up to 300 MWe per power module. They are smaller than conventional nuclear reactors. The name SMR derives from their manufacturing processes, size and modular construction—that is, their assembly from specific components—and does not refer to the type of reactor or the nuclear process used. According to nuclear energy experts, they differ from large nuclear units primarily in their lower output, as well as their faster and simpler construction. Their operation, on the other hand, could be similar.

„Small modular reactors are not intended to replace large units, but to complement them. They will be a significant source of heat for cities in the locations where they are built. We are planning the first one at Temelín in the first half of the 2030s. It is the best possible site for a pilot project. At the same time, preparations are also under way here for the construction of two additional large nuclear units, following on from the project for new units at the Dukovany nuclear power plant,“ said ČEZ Chairman and CEO Daniel Beneš.

On 15 November, ČEZ submitted an application for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the construction of a small modular reactor at Temelín. Its expected service life is 60 to 80 years, according to the document, which states that construction is expected to begin in 2029 and be completed five years later. Its electrical output is expected to be 470 megawatts.

Energy company ČEZ plans to build facilities with a combined capacity of up to three GW in Czechia by 2050, using power plants based on technology from Rolls-Royce SMR. The Dukovany and Temelín nuclear power plants each have a capacity of about two gigawatts. According to previous statements by ČEZ, SMRs are intended primarily to supply heat and could be built, for example, on the sites of existing coal-fired power plants, such as Prunéřov or Dětmarovice.

ČEZ and Rolls-Royce SMR signed a strategic partnership for the development of modular reactors at the end of October. ČEZ will acquire a roughly 20 percent stake in the British company, paying several billion Czech crowns for it. The partnership, planned to last several decades, envisages ČEZ taking a direct role in developing the new modular reactor technology and manufacturing the reactors on a global scale. This will therefore involve more than simply purchasing or receiving deliveries of finished units.