Extension of KHNP's offer for Czech Dukovany project uncertain, company yet to decide
An extension of South Korean company KHNP’s offer to build nuclear units at Dukovany is uncertain. The company will have to assess any request from the Czech side, consider the circumstances and then decide. Harry Chang, vice president of KHNP’s nuclear power plant project division in Czechia, told Czech Television (ČT). KHNP’s current offer is valid until the end of June.
The final signing of the agreement with KHNP was recently blocked by a preliminary injunction issued by the Brno Regional Court. The court acted on a motion by French company EDF, which filed a lawsuit challenging the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition’s decision that the tender had been conducted properly. Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said on Tuesday that the final contract might not be signed before his government’s term ends. That will depend on the court’s decision.
“If the Czech side were to request an extension (of the offer’s validity), we would have to assess it and take various things into account, so it would depend on the situation at that point in time,” Chang told ČT.
He added that when the time comes, the company will carefully assess the circumstances then in effect and decide accordingly.
The final agreement with KHNP was originally scheduled to be signed on 7 May. If the court lifts the preliminary injunction currently blocking it, everything is ready to conclude the agreement as quickly as possible, Fiala said. However, according to the prime minister, the planned start-up of the first reactor in 2036 is not yet at risk despite the current delay in the tender.
The government decided last July to build two new nuclear reactors. It preferred South Korea’s KHNP bid over EDF’s. It had already excluded another bidder, Westinghouse, from the competition.
Construction of new nuclear units in Czechia is expected to be the country’s largest-ever contract. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred option of building two reactors at Dukovany is 407 billion crowns.
Translation disclaimer
This article is a machine translation of the Czech original and has not yet been fully reviewed. In case of any doubt, please refer to the Czech version.
