EDF and KHNP submit bids to build up to four nuclear units in Czechia

EDF and KHNP have submitted their binding bids to build up to four nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic. Representatives of France’s EDF delivered the documents to ČEZ’s headquarters this morning, while officials from South Korea’s KHNP submitted their bid on Monday. ČEZ informed the Czech News Agency (ČTK) of this today. Details of the bids will not be made public for some time; ČEZ will now analyse them. The winner of the tender and how many nuclear units will be built in Czechia in the future are expected to be decided by the summer. The first of them is due to be completed in 2036.

The government invited EDF and KHNP to submit binding bids to build multiple reactors at the end of January this year. It made the decision after analysing the initial bids to build one reactor at Dukovany, which also included non-binding options for additional units. According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), the bidders’ non-binding offers to build multiple reactors were up to 25 percent more favourable than building just one unit. He did not disclose the offered prices. North American company Westinghouse, meanwhile, dropped out of the three-company nuclear tender after failing to meet the conditions of the original tender, according to the cabinet.

“We will now evaluate the bids and, under our agreement with the state, submit the evaluation report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and, consequently, to the Czech government for final approval,” said Tomáš Pleskač, ČEZ board member and director of its new energy division. ČEZ expects contracts with the winner to be finalised this year and ready for signing by the end of March next year.

The bidders submitted their offers electronically, using special encryption and a uniquely secured data repository.

The new reactor project is expected to be the largest investment in the Czech Republic’s modern history. According to previous statements by the government and ČEZ, one new reactor is expected to cost about 160 billion Kč at 2020 prices. Government representatives declined to comment on the prices offered in the initial bids. Some economists estimated in January that building four reactors could cost as much as two trillion crowns.

The Czech Republic currently has six nuclear units at two power plants. Two units, each with a capacity of approximately 1000 megawatts (MW), are at Temelín in South Bohemia. Four smaller units with a capacity of 510 MW are at Dukovany in the Třebíč region. In addition to new conventional reactors, ČEZ is also preparing to build small modular reactors. The first is expected to be built at Temelín.