US and France squeeze Russia in Czech nuclear market

2022: Nuclear fuel supply plan from 2024

the Czech From 2024 the American , the company will supply nuclear fuel for the Temelin nuclear power plant. Westinghouse the French Framatome

The contract for the supply of nuclear fuel from the USA and France is designed for 15 years. The contract cost is about billions of crowns, said Ladislav Krzyzh, chief representative of the CEZ Group.

As of April 2022, the Temelin NPP located in the Southern Czech Republic receives fuel from the Russian company TVEL, which is part of Gazprom. The refusal of its services is associated with the situation in Ukraine^[1].

The tender, which the CEZ began in April 2020, was attended by three applicants, namely Framatome, TVEL and Westinghouse.

Thanks to diversification, two suppliers were ultimately chosen so that the CEZ group could reliably ensure the continuous supply of fuel cells for the Temelin reactors in the future, thus minimizing the risks of a possible interruption in supplies, "Krzyzh said.

Westinghouse will supply fuel assemblies from its plant in Sweden to Temelin within ten years of the reactor launch. Westinghouse Electric Company is engaged in the design, construction, management, maintenance and repair of nuclear power plants, as well as the production and maintenance of basic nuclear components. As of April 2022, she works in 19 countries and filed an application for the construction of the fifth nuclear unit in Dukovany.

French Framatome is the only manufacturer in the European Union that supplies fuel assemblies to most Western European nuclear power plants. Framatome is also involved in the design of nuclear units, designs, maintains and installs components for nuclear power plants, produces nuclear fuel and supplies measurement and control systems. It is a supplier of 380 reactors worldwide.

The Russian company TVEL is a supplier of nuclear fuel for the second Czech nuclear power plant in Dukovany. She has a contract for the supply of fuel until the end of the life of this nuclear power plant.^[2] does not have another fuel producer for 440-megawatt Russian VVER reactors^[3]. Both stations (Temelin NPP and Dukovany NPP) were built with the help of the USSR.

2021: Agreement on Modernization of Control and Control Systems

On September 14, 2021, it became known that Czech Power Company CEZ (CEZ) the American Westinghouse they signed a nine-year agreement on the modernization of the control and control systems of the Temelin NPP in, Czech Republic CEZ board member Bohdan Zronek told reporters.

CEZ and Westinghouse have concluded an agreement to modernize the control and control systems of Temelin NPP. It is designed for nine years. We are talking about the implementation of one of the most technically complex orders in the history of the Czech Republic, "he said.

Westinghouse systems for managing and controlling the production process at the Czech station have been operating, according to Zronek, since 2000. Modernization will ensure their functioning for 60 years or more. The cost of the project will be billions of crowns (hundreds of millions of euros).

In the Czech Republic, in addition to the Temelin NPP (south of the republic), the Dukovany NPP (southeast of the country) operates. Both stations were erected with the help of Moscow: the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia signed a corresponding agreement in 1970. The Russian company TVEL (Rosatoma fuel company) provides their reactors with nuclear fuel^[4]

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