Czech committee backs nuclear law amendment unchanged, aiming to speed up permitting

The Chamber of Deputies' Economic Affairs Committee today backed the government's amendment to the Atomic Act unchanged. The amendment is intended mainly to speed up permitting for the construction of new nuclear units. It will also allow applicants to request preliminary information from the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB) on how their applications will be assessed. It will also allow exemptions from the law's requirements. The committee rejected all three amendments put forward by MP Jan Bauer of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). He wanted, for example, to lower the fee for preliminary information or set a lower upper limit on the fee for nuclear facility operators than the government had proposed. The State Office for Nuclear Safety opposed his proposals.

The amendment introduces an application for preliminary information from the SÚJB as one of several new mechanisms. The aim is to allow applicants to request an explanation or consultation on how the authority would decide. The government says the new mechanism is needed because the rapid emergence of new technologies brings a range of technical and technological uncertainties. It is therefore important to clarify, before the relevant proceedings begin, whether the information, supporting documents, technologies and equipment will meet the requirements. The authority will then say whether it will require, for example, additional conditions, or what criteria it will use to assess the application.

For the fee paid into the Nuclear Account, the government is proposing two upper limits on the fee rate. It would set the current rates by regulation for a five-year period. For a fee payer operating a nuclear power facility, the government proposed an upper limit of up to 163 Kč/MWh. MP Bauer proposed an upper limit of 80 crowns per MWh.

According to the government, the amendment is based on experience with the new Atomic Act. Some approaches could be made more effective, the cabinet believes. The changes should therefore primarily reduce the regulatory burden involved in state authorities' review of construction projects. They are mainly technical changes. The law also needs to be adapted to new technologies such as modular reactors, which were not covered by the existing legislation. According to the explanatory document, changes were also needed to reflect new international standards in nuclear energy.

The government says nuclear legislation must be prepared above all for the arrival of new nuclear technologies, particularly small and medium-sized modular reactors (SMRs), without compromising the required level of safety. Under the state's current plans, nuclear energy, together with renewable sources, is to be the main source in the Czech domestic energy mix. The state is therefore preparing to build new reactors as well as small modular units.