Czech Dukovany nuclear plant to shut down its fourth unit as planned on Christmas Eve

Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant is scheduled to shut down its fourth unit at noon on Christmas Eve to replace part of its fuel with fresh fuel and carry out regular maintenance and equipment inspections. Because of the extensive work involved, the outage is scheduled to last until March next year. Plant spokesperson Jiří Bezděk said so today. The other three units at Dukovany will remain in operation. Both units at the Temelín plant are also operating. The outage of its second unit ended on 6 December.

„Fuel cycles—the optimal use of fuel—as well as mandatory inspection and maintenance intervals are key factors in determining when unit outages begin. In the longer term, expected energy prices also play a role. We therefore plan the work regardless of holidays or vacation periods,“ said Bohdan Zronek, a member of ČEZ’s board of directors and director of its nuclear energy division

In addition to inspections of the reactor and steam generators, the outage of the Dukovany unit will involve a major overhaul of main circulation pump number six and inspections of both steam turbine-generator sets and associated equipment. Replacement of the unit switchgear sections will continue; this work is being carried out on all units to ensure the plant can operate for at least 60 years.

During the outage, the engineers will carry out 16.400 work tasks and 48 investment projects. The unit will stop supplying electricity to the grid on Tuesday evening. The equipment will be cooled down and stabilized over the first two days. Maintenance and servicing work will begin in earnest on Friday.

This is the fourth unit outage at Dukovany this year; the third ended on 25 October. As the units now shift from 12-month to 16-month fuel cycles, the number of outages per year is expected to fall from four to three.

The fourth unit was first commissioned in 1987 and has since generated more than 129 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. It is now preparing for its 36th scheduled refueling outage. „Because of the extensive work involved, the outage is scheduled to last until March, but its exact duration depends on the results of the inspections and tests,“ Bezděk added.

Since the beginning of the year, Dukovany power plant has generated more than 14 TWh of electricity.