Transport upgrades for Temelín expansion in Czechia to cost about CZK 3.9bn, government says

Upgrades to transport infrastructure needed to move oversized and heavy cargo for the expansion of the Temelín nuclear power plant will cost about CZK 3.879 billion. The government office announced this today in a press release. At its meeting today, the cabinet agreed that the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure (SFDI) would allocate CZK 47.46 million from this year’s budget for the measures.

A contract for the construction of units at Dukovany signed this year includes an option to build two additional units at Temelín. A small modular reactor (SMR) is also being prepared at Temelín, with construction planned for the first half of the 2030s. The cabinet says work on transport infrastructure upgrades needs to begin as soon as possible to ensure the subsequent construction of new nuclear units proceeds without complications or delays.

The SFDI will release CZK 47.46 million this year for the planned measures, to be shared by the Directorate of Waterways of the Czech Republic, the Vltava River Basin Authority, and the South Bohemian and Central Bohemian regions. “The total cost of implementing the transport infrastructure measures needed to ensure the smooth completion of the Temelín expansion is currently estimated at CZK 3.879 billion,” the Straka Academy said.

In July, ČEZ drilled nine geological boreholes near the Temelín nuclear power plant, and will use the results in its application for a permit to locate an SMR. The technology will be supplied by British company Rolls-Royce SMR, with which ČEZ signed a strategic partnership last year to develop modular reactors. It bought an approximately 20% stake in the British company, paying several billion crowns for it.

The SMR at Temelín is expected to have an electrical output of 470 megawatts, a service life of at least 60 years and a pressurised water reactor design. Other planned SMRs in Czechia will have the same output. A unit at Dukovany currently has an output of more than 500 MWe (electrical megawatts).