Small modular reactors in Czechia get green light, state to sign memorandum with ČEZ

The state and energy company ČEZ will sign a memorandum on Friday on cooperation in the construction of small modular reactors. After a government meeting today, Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO) said this was another step towards improving Czechia's energy security. Small modular reactors are being developed by British company Rolls-Royce SMR, co-owned by Czech semi-state-owned company ČEZ.

Last week, Rolls-Royce SMR signed an agreement with British government organisation Great British Energy - Nuclear to build the first small modular reactors in Europe. The contract allows work to begin immediately on the delivery of three reactors. The company will build them at the Wylfa site on the island of Anglesey in north Wales.

"This is a very significant milestone showing that we will build small modular reactors together with the British. At the same time, it confirms that we are beginning preparations for them," Havlíček said today.

According to him, representatives of Rolls-Royce and the United Kingdom are also expected to arrive in Prague on Friday.

ČEZ spokesman Ladislav Kříž told ČTK today that the memorandum's main content would be an agreement between the state and the company under which ČEZ would pursue the state's plans for the further development of modular reactors in Czechia.

ČEZ plans to build modular reactors with a combined capacity of three gigawatts by 2050. The existing Dukovany and Temelín power plants each have a capacity of around two gigawatts. According to the group, the price of a modular reactor should be similar to that of large units, while proportionately reflecting the lower output of a modular reactor. The first such reactor should be built next to Temelín around the middle of the 2030s.

ČEZ is working with Rolls-Royce SMR on the development. Last year, the Czech company completed its equity investment in the British firm, in which it now holds a stake of around one-fifth. It paid around six billion crowns for it. The companies are cooperating on preparations for the construction of up to three modular reactors in the UK, in which ČEZ could participate as a supplier of certain technologies. They should subsequently also cooperate on reactors in Czechia.

Modular reactors can be mass-produced in factories and multiple units can gradually be concentrated at a single site. According to nuclear energy experts, they differ from large nuclear units primarily in their lower output and faster, simpler construction. Their operation, by contrast, could be similar.