Two-month outage of Czechia’s Dukovany Unit 2 ends after partial fuel replacement

The planned outage of Unit 2 at the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant, which began on 10 February, ended overnight. Energy workers replaced a quarter of the fuel in its reactor with fresh fuel and inspected and upgraded a range of equipment. Both turbine-generator sets were reconnected at 0:16. Operators then began the required checks and are gradually increasing reactor output, Jiří Bezděk, spokesperson for the Dukovany plant, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK).

All four Dukovany units are now back in operation. The next outage involving the replacement of some of the fuel at the plant will begin in June and will affect Unit 1.

Operators restarted the controlled fission reaction in Unit 2’s reactor on Friday, 7 April. The unit began supplying electricity to the transmission grid again on Sunday at 18:39, after its first turbine-generator set was connected. A number of checks and tests are still to follow. „Safety is always our priority, and we need to be sure of the condition of the equipment. Until all inspections are complete, we remain prepared for any changes,“ said plant director Roman Havlín.