International IAEA experts inspect operations at Czech Temelín, report due within three weeks

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spent three weeks reviewing operations at the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant. They focused on ten areas, including operations, maintenance, radiation protection, staff training and the emergency management system. The final report will be submitted to ČEZ and the State Office for Nuclear Safety within three weeks, the plant’s spokesman, Marek Sviták, told the Czech News Agency today. The inspections are not related to the unplanned outages in the summer, he said. The IAEA carried out a similar inspection at Temelín 12 years ago. The Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant will undergo the same review in November.

The mission, comprising 14 experts from nine countries, was invited by the Czech government. In each area, they reviewed documentation, assessed operating conditions and held discussions with employees. They compared the information gathered with IAEA criteria and the results from other power plants. According to preliminary findings, the South Bohemian plant was advised above all to strengthen cooperation with suppliers so they would better understand the plant’s culture, values and rules, Sviták added. The final report will then be submitted to the State Office for Nuclear Safety within three weeks.

„We gained an independent perspective from people in the industry who also know the world’s best practices in their fields. Their recommendations do not mean we are doing anything wrong, but show how we can do things even better. In this respect, the review met our expectations. We will certainly work intensively on its findings,“ said Jan Kruml, director of the Temelín plant. Temelín will then have a year and a half to put the international experts’ recommendations into practice. In 2026, IAEA experts will visit South Bohemia to verify how the plant has addressed their recommendations.

These inspections are not related to the three unplanned outages during the summer, when power plant staff disconnected one or the other unit for several hours or days. The problems were caused by turbine vibrations, a water valve in the system circulating water between the condensers and cooling towers in the plant’s non-nuclear section, or an automatic disconnection triggered by the so-called flash protection system at one of the four electrical substations. „We have been preparing the OSART mission with the IAEA team since last year. Its purpose is to share the world’s best practices across the nuclear community, compare power plants against IAEA standards and thereby continuously raise standards across the entire nuclear industry. The OSART mission was in no way related to the summer adjustments to the turbine settings. In addition, the plant regularly undergoes a wide range of other inspections and audits,“ Sviták said.

Inspections focus on different areas and are carried out by different institutions. These include, for example, an audit focused on environmental protection and cybersecurity; physical security is also assessed regularly. Nuclear safety is overseen by the State Office for Nuclear Safety, whose inspectors have an office at Temelín. Last year, the plant underwent an international review by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), Sviták added.

Since the beginning of the year, the Temelín plant has generated 11.4 terawatt-hours of electricity.