Czech Senate likely to approve faster permitting for new nuclear facilities

An amendment that would speed up permitting for new nuclear facilities, including small modular reactors, was recommended for approval by the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee today. The amendment is intended to enable the use of new nuclear technologies. Nuclear energy, together with renewable sources, is to become a mainstay of the Czech energy mix. The state is therefore preparing to build new reactors as well as small modular units.

The changes are primarily intended to reduce the regulatory burden involved in the state administration’s review of construction projects. They are mainly technical in nature. According to the government, the existing law did not, for example, take small modular reactors into account. The amendment will also allow applicants to request preliminary information from the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB) on how their applications will be assessed. It will also allow exemptions from the law’s requirements.

In the government’s amendment, the Chamber of Deputies lowered the upper limit on fees paid to the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority. Nuclear power plants will be required to pay no more than 120 Kč/MWh, while research nuclear facilities and nuclear heating plants will pay 80 Kč/MWh. The government had proposed limits of 163 and 109 crowns.

One of the new provisions introduced by the amendment is the option to request preliminary information from the SÚJB. Its purpose is to allow applicants to seek clarification or consultation on how the authority would decide. The government says the change is needed because the rapid emergence of new technologies brings a range of technical and technological uncertainties. It is therefore necessary to clarify, before the relevant proceedings begin, whether the information, supporting documents, technologies and equipment will meet the requirements. The authority will then indicate whether it will require additional conditions, for example, or what criteria it will use to assess the application.

Another new provision allows the SÚJB to approve an exemption from the law’s requirements by issuing a decision. The law already allows certain exemptions, including a change in the category of a facility or source of ionising radiation. An application to the authority will have to state relevant reasons and demonstrate that the conditions set out in the law are met. The government says exemptions are needed because new technologies are developing very rapidly and their precise parameters are not yet known as they are still being developed.