CEZ to hand Czech government EDF and KHNP bids today to build up to four nuclear units

Energy group ČEZ, which is in charge of the nuclear tender, will hand the government today the bids it received to build up to four nuclear units in Czechia. Binding bids were submitted at the end of April by French company EDF and South Korean company KHNP. Under the current timetable, the government is expected to select the tender winner as early as July, and decide on the number of reactors to be built by the end of August.

One new nuclear unit is expected to be built in Dukovany by 2036. If the project is expanded, up to two units would be built in Dukovany and two in Temelín.

At the end of January this year, the government invited EDF and KHNP to submit binding bids to build multiple reactors. It made the decision after analysing the initial bids to build one reactor in Dukovany, which also included non-binding options for additional units.

According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), the bidders’ non-binding offers to build multiple reactors were up to 25 percent more favourable than building just one unit. He did not disclose the proposed prices. North American company Westinghouse, meanwhile, was dropped from the nuclear tender, as it failed to meet the requirements of the original tender, according to the government.

The invited bidders submitted their expanded binding bids at the end of April. ČEZ has analysed them since then and will hand them to the government today, together with its own recommendation. The company has not commented on the contents of the bids. The decision on the winner, however, will be up to the government.

The new reactor project is expected to be the largest investment in Czechia’s modern history. According to previous statements by the government and ČEZ, one new reactor is expected to cost around 160 billion korunas at 2020 prices. Government representatives declined to comment on the prices in the initial bids. Some economists estimated in January that building four reactors could cost as much as two trillion korunas.

Czechia currently has six nuclear units at two power plants. Two units, each with a capacity of approximately 1000 megawatts (MW), are at Temelín in South Bohemia. Four smaller units with a capacity of 510 MW are located at Dukovany in the Třebíč region. In addition to new conventional reactors, ČEZ is also preparing to build small modular reactors. The first is expected to be built at Temelín.