Czech Temelín takes Unit 2 offline as planned today for turbine adjustments

The Temelín Nuclear Power Plant disconnected Unit 2 from the transmission grid this evening. Energy workers will adjust the mounting of the steam turbine in the plant’s non-nuclear section. They announced the planned outage in early April. The unit is expected to resume electricity supplies early next week. This short-term reduction in electricity generation will not affect consumers, Temelín spokesperson Marek Sviták said.

Energy workers began reducing the output of Unit 2 at 18:00 and disconnected it from the transmission grid shortly after 21:00. Operators will not cool down the reactor, but will keep it in what is known as a hot state.

„This is not a response to an urgent need. Based on experience and detailed measurements, we want to adjust some parameters of the turbine mounting and thereby avoid any potential unplanned adjustments during the approximately year-long operating period ahead. We scheduled the work well in advance for the Easter holidays, when we expect electricity consumption to be lower,” Sviták said.

Temelín covers around a fifth of domestic electricity consumption. Since the start of this year, it has generated 5.4 terawatt-hours of electricity, compared with 14.3 terawatt-hours last year.