Czech nuclear expansion could face delay

The chief of CEZ's nuclear power plant construction had told Reuters the majority state-owned utility was making safety modifications for its Temelin expansion project but that the changes would not alter the timetable for a 2011 tender launch.

But Dana Drabova, head of the Czech Nuclear Safety Office, said it would take time and money to implement new requirements stemming from the Fukushima crisis in Japan.

These could include modifications to the system design and surrounding structures as well as support systems in the area needed to keep the plant running, she added.

"There will for sure be new requirements coming out of Fukushima," Drabova told Reuters in an interview in her Prague office.

"What I have in mind is that CEZ and others should be prepared for additional requirements and that will cost money.

"From the investor point of view this is an unpleasant situation because this will be a long-term process."

Central Europe's biggest utility plans to build two additional units at its Temelin plant near Austria and then potentially later up to three other units in neighbouring Slovakia and at its Dukovany plant in the Czech Republic.

CEZ operates two reactors at Temelin and another four at Dukovany. Toshiba Corp unit Westinghouse, an alliance of Russia's Atomstroyexport and Czech company Skoda JS, and France's Areva , are bidding to build the units in a project that could be worth up to 500 billion Czech crowns.

CEZ plans to pick the winning bidder for what would be the nation's biggest ever procurement deal sometime in 2013, a one year delay from original plans.

Yet the tsunami that washed over the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused many in Europe to rethink atomic energy, including Germany which decided to shut down its reactors for good by 2022.

CEZ officials have warned that Czechs would face public and political pressure from neighboring Austria and Germany over nuclear plans in European Union country where support for atomic energy remains high.

"We are similar to the Finns where there is no practical change regarding nuclear power," Drabova said. "Public opinion polls show the support for nuclear technology has only fallen from 70 percent to 65 percent, which is still fairly good."

While western European nations have been quick to retrench from atomic energy, former communist states like the Czech Republic and Poland see it as a key plank in future energy security to lessen the need for Russian gas supplies.

Drabova added safety regulators from Germany and Austria are involved in the environmental impact assessment process for Temelin but any final decision would be for the Czechs alone.

"The Lisbon treaty says energy policy is a sovereign issue for member states," Drabova said.

She added stress tests of the country's six reactors in operation were now taking into account natural disasters such as prolonged droughts or tornadoes, which she noted have become more frequent in recent years.

Dukovany would also likely get an extension to continue operating its reactors up to 2027 following standard safety reviews, she added.

"We don't see any reason up to now not to grant a new 10-year operating period. "The same is true of Temelin."

Copyright Reuters, 2011