PRAGUE (AP) — Three energy corporations including U.S. Westinghouse, France’s EdF and Korea’s KHNP will by vying to construct the Czech Republic’s newest reactor on the Dukovany nuclear power station, authorities said Wednesday, because the country strives to develop into more energy independent and wean itself of fossil fuels.
State-controlled power company CEZ says final bids for the contract to construct the reactor will likely be placed at the top of September next 12 months and a winner announced in 2024. The brand new reactor should develop into operational by 2036. The brand new reactor should develop into operational by 2036.
Earlier this 12 months, the Czech government excluded Russia’s energy giant Rosatom and China’s CNG from the tenders process on security grounds.
The brand new reactor will complement Dukovany’s 4 510-megawatt units that were accomplished within the late Nineteen Eighties.
The federal government estimated in March the project would cost around 6 billion euros ($6.22 billion) but that would change resulting from high inflation driven by soaring energy prices.
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The Czech Republic already relies on six nuclear reactors to generate greater than a 3rd of its total electricity. Besides the 4 in Dukovany, state-controlled power company CEZ operates one other two 1,000-megawatt reactors on the Temelin plant. CEZ will likely be in command of the tender.
Unlike its western neighbors Austria and Germany, the Czech Republic is doubling down on nuclear power and renewable energy sources after deciding to phase out coal as a fuel for energy generation by 2033 as a way to reduce carbon emissions.
One other two European Union countries in Central Europe, Slovakia and Hungary, have also been working to expand nuclear power production while one other neighbour, Poland said in October it chosen Westinghouse to construct the central European country’s first nuclear power plant as a part of an effort to burn less coal and gain greater energy independence.
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