Czech Sokolovská uhelná secures US grant to prepare for small modular reactors

Sokolovská uhelná and SUAS Group will commission a study into the possible location of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) at their sites. A grant from the US State Department’s Phoenix program will enable them to do so. The program funds feasibility studies related to the siting of SMRs in Europe. The study could cost up to two million dollars (approximately 45 million crowns), with the grant amounting to 1.5 million dollars (approximately 34.1 million crowns). According to Sokolovská uhelná, the small reactors could be located at the Tisová Power Plant site and the complex in Vřesová.

Mining and energy company Sokolovská uhelná, which is facing a gradual phase-out of coal mining and processing, can now prepare for the possibility of building modular reactors as well. SMRs could be an alternative to large nuclear power plants, as well as to other forms of electricity and heat supply.

Nearly three dozen European companies applied for a grant under the Phoenix program. „Energy security for our citizens after the shutdown of lignite-fired power plants can only be ensured through an appropriate mix of different energy sources. These include small modular reactors, which meet all technological and safety requirements,“ said Pavel Tomek, chairman of the supervisory boards of Sokolovská uhelná and SUAS GROUP. „When we began considering this option, we identified two locations where such a facility could potentially be sited. Specifically, these are the Tisová Power Plant site and the industrial complex in Vřesová,“ he added.