Czechia's Temelín nuclear plant to shut down second unit for planned refuelling tonight

The Temelín nuclear power plant will take its second unit offline as planned this evening. It will replace some of the fuel and inspect, among other things, the safety systems and turbine. ČEZ has scheduled 19.000 different tasks during the outage, which will last approximately two months. Marek Sviták, spokesman for the Temelín plant, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK).

„We will replace 54 of the 163 fuel assemblies in total, six more than during the last outage. This will allow the unit to operate for two months longer. We will also inspect, for example, the safety systems, the turbine and the backup diesel generator. Towards the end of the outage, we will inspect the containment building around the reactor,“ said Jan Kruml, director of the Temelín nuclear power plant.

Energy workers will continue modernising the plant. This will include replacing the generator rotor, upgrading the safety system that supplies the backup batteries, and carrying out another phase of the plant's control system upgrade. A total of 74 investment projects have been scheduled for the outage.

This year, ČEZ will invest 4,1 billion crowns in modernisation. „The importance of nuclear power plants is growing around the world, and the Czech Republic is no exception. That is also why we must look after the existing units at Temelín and Dukovany so that we can operate them safely and efficiently for at least 60 years. Ongoing modernisation is one way to achieve this,“ said Bohdan Zronek, ČEZ board member and director of its nuclear energy division.

A thousand people, including contractors, will take part in the outage. The first unit was shut down for inspections and fuel replacement for two months this year, from early April to early June. Since the start of the year, the Temelín plant has generated 12,2 terawatt-hours of electricity.