Speaking at the conference Energetické Třebíčsko 2011 on Wednesday, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Martin Kocourek (Civic Democrats, ODS), announced that the government is counting on extending the lifespan of the Czech Republic’s oldest nuclear power plant Dukovany, and building a fifth reactor block at the country’s other nuclear plant, Temelín, after 2020.
“Dukovany comes into consideration after the construction of the net two further reactor blocks at Temelín. There [at Temelín] it’s just an expansion, whereas at Dukovany there would be a new development,” Kocourek said.
Wednesday’s conference was organized by the town of Třebíč, the West Moravian University, the Chamber of Commerce and the Energoregion 2020, an association of the administrations of some 130 districts in the region of the Duchovany plant in southwest Moravia, which support the extension of the plant’s lifespan.
“Prolonging the lifespan of the current four reactor blocks is a matter of subsistence for us, but we also need to see the further perspectives,” the Energoregion 2020 chairman, Vladimír Měrka, was cited as saying by the Czech news agency ČTK. “The power plant doesn’t frighten us. To the contrary, the [local] districts are aware of its benefit for employment in the region.”
The four pressurized water reactor blocks at the Duchovany plant were launched into operation between 1985 and 1987. Originally, each reactor block had a capacity of 440 MW but following modernization each now has a capacity of 460 MW and plans are in place for a further upgrade to 500 MW.
Last year Dukovany was the largest single source of power in the Czech Republic, outputting 14.176 TWh. Temelín, which currently has two reactor blocks, produced 13.82 TWh in 2010.
Banking on nuclear
The Czech government is expected to produce the State Energy Concept for the next 50 years by the end of the year. According to a number of opinion polls, the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has not caused a fundamental shift in opinions in the Czech Republic towards nuclear energy as it has done in neighboring Germany, where in response the country’s government has adopted a plan to phase out all nuclear plants there.
The draft State Energy Concept drawn up by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO), calls for prioritizing nuclear power over gas as a replacement for coal-fired power plants, and establishing a full nuclear cycle within the country: This would involve expanding uranium mining in the Czech Republic, establishing uranium refinement facilities — possibly in conjunction with neighboring states — for the production of nuclear fuel, and also domestic recycling and disposal of spent nuclear fuel.
The government’s new energy strategy should contain specific plans and a timeline for the modernization and expansion of the Czech Republic's nuclear facilities.
