Fiala: Czech government prepared steps for swift signing of Dukovany contracts, obstacles removed

The government prepared steps to sign the final contracts with KHNP for the construction of nuclear units at Dukovany, so they could be signed as soon as possible. Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said this at a press conference today, confirming that the agreements were signed this afternoon. The court’s cancellation of the interim injunction blocking the signing of the contracts removed all obstacles, the prime minister said.

South Korea’s KHNP won last year’s nuclear tender, with the government preferring its bid to those from EDF and Westinghouse. The first unit at Dukovany is expected to be completed in 2036. The construction of new nuclear units in Czechia is expected to be the country’s largest project. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred plan to build two reactors at Dukovany is 407 billion crowns.

"This is an important step towards greater energy self-sufficiency and security for the Czech Republic," Fiala stressed.

"We are pleased that we were able to sign the contract with KHNP. It offered the best terms and the strongest guarantees that it would meet them," the prime minister added.

He recalled that the new units are expected to generate electricity at a price below 90 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). "This is a favourable price even by comparison with other European countries, and is lower than in other states that are also preparing to build new nuclear power sources," Fiala noted.

According to him, cooperation with KHNP also ensures broad participation by Czech industry in the project. "The 60 percent participation target for Czech companies will be met. Contracts covering 30 percent have already been signed, and more will follow," he recalled.

The contracts were therefore signed just hours after the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS), following appeals by EDU II and KHNP, overturned the interim injunction that prohibited the signing of the Dukovany contract. The injunction was issued in early May by the Regional Court in Brno following a lawsuit by France’s EDF, which challenged the antitrust authority’s decision that the nuclear tender had been conducted properly. The regional court will hear EDF’s lawsuit on 25 June.