Westinghouse withdraws objections to Czech nuclear tender; competition authority to halt proceedings

US company Westinghouse has withdrawn its objections to the nuclear tender, which were being reviewed by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). The antitrust authority will now halt the administrative proceedings. It is still reviewing a complaint by French company EDF, which is currently blocking the signing of a contract to build new nuclear units at the Dukovany power plant. The information was given at a conference on energy developments by Petr Závodský, CEO of Elektrárna Dukovany II, and confirmed to the Czech News Agency (ČTK) by ÚOHS spokesperson Martin Švanda.

„Westinghouse has withdrawn its objection to the tender, so we are waiting for the ÚOHS decision on EDF’s objections before the contract can be signed,“ Závodský said.

EDF and Westinghouse filed objections to the selection of a rival company in the tender at the end of last August. In their appeals, they challenged the Korean company’s right to use the technology it had offered and the transparency of the procedure. The French company specifically alleged that the Foreign Subsidies Regulation had been breached. Both companies also described the contracting authority’s procedure as unlawful, arguing that it had, among other things, failed to comply with the basic principles of public procurement, particularly in connection with the selection of the preferred supplier.

The ÚOHS rejected their objections, and both companies appealed to the authority’s chairman, Petr Mlsna. Westinghouse has now withdrawn both its objections and its appeal. „When a motion is withdrawn, the administrative proceedings are generally discontinued, but this must first be approved by the appeal committee. Second-instance proceedings on the appeal by the other applicant, Électricité de France, are continuing, as this applicant recently supplemented its appeal. The additional documents must be evaluated and reviewed before the authority’s chairman issues a decision,“ Švanda said.

The tender to build two nuclear units at Dukovany was won by Korea’s KHNP, and the contracts are expected to be ready for signing at the end of this March.

The first of the new reactors is expected to be completed in 2036. The cost of the currently preferred plan to build two reactors is 400 billion crowns at current prices. The state is also counting on an option to build two more reactors at Temelín in the future.