Temelín power plant upgrades first of eight diesel generators

The Temelín nuclear power plant in the České Budějovice region has upgraded the first of eight diesel generators. It aims to upgrade all of them by 2030, investing hundreds of millions of koruna in the project. The reason for the upgrade is preparation for at least 60 years of operation, and potentially even longer, at the Temelín plant, its spokesperson Marek Sviták said in a press release.

The diesel generators serve as backup power supplies for safety systems. Most are located in seismically resistant buildings. Their resilience is the same as that of the building protecting the reactor. This means they can withstand an earthquake at least 100 times stronger than any ever recorded in the vicinity of the plant. They operate for only a few hours a year.

"The new control system will enable online monitoring of parameters directly from the operations staff's remote workstation. Until now, our technicians had to check parameters such as temperatures, pressures or operating fluid levels only at the equipment itself," said Temelín nuclear power plant director Jan Kruml.

During the generator upgrades, technicians will replace four control units, hundreds of metres of cables and dozens of different sensors. "Although the control systems are highly reliable, given the expected operating lifetime and available service support, we are upgrading not only the equipment itself but also the systems that control it," said Bohdan Zronek, a ČEZ board member and director of the nuclear energy division.

The Temelín plant, one of Czechia's two nuclear facilities, covers around a fifth of domestic electricity consumption. Since the start of the year, it has generated 16.3 terawatt-hours of electricity.