ČEZ begins talks with KHNP on contract to build two reactors at Dukovany, Czechia

State-controlled energy company ČEZ today began talks with South Korean company KHNP on a contract to build two nuclear reactors at Dukovany. It expects to sign the agreement by the end of March next year. ČEZ spokesperson Ladislav Kříž told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) today. It will be the largest contract since the establishment of the Czech Republic.

KHNP won the nuclear tender, in which the Czech government gave it preference over French company EDF. For now, the project involves building two reactors at Dukovany, the first of which is expected to be completed in 2036. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred option of building two reactors is 400 billion korun. However, under the government’s decision, ČEZ is also expected to discuss an option with the Koreans over the next three to five years to build two additional units at Temelín.

The first contract talks therefore began exactly one week after the government announced the outcome of the nuclear tender. The companies have not said what the talks began with. According to earlier information, ČEZ wants to have the final wording of the contract ready in the first months of next year, with the government expected to review it around the turn of February and March. The agreement is then expected to be signed at the end of March.

ČEZ, the project’s lead investor through its subsidiary Elektrárna Dukovany II, is also currently working out how to finance the two plants. It wants to have the details settled by the end of this year. Under preliminary plans, the state would provide financing for the construction in the form of repayable loans. The European Commission has approved the terms of public support for one nuclear unit, while Czechia wants to apply for so-called notification for the second unit as soon as possible.

Four nuclear units are currently operating at Dukovany, each with a capacity of 510 megawatts (MW). Each of the new reactors offered by KHNP is expected to have a capacity of 1050 MW. Two further units, each with a capacity of approximately 1000 megawatts (MW), are at Temelín in South Bohemia. Alongside new conventional reactors, ČEZ is also preparing to build small modular reactors. The first is expected to be built at Temelín.