ČEZ

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ČEZ is a joint stock company which was established in 1992 by the National Property Fund of the Czech Republic. Today the fund is still the majority shareholder in the company which lists its core business activity as ‘electricity production and sale and related support of power system’ according to the company website.

Petr Závodský joined ČEZ / Temelín Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in 1994 just one year after he graduated from the Electrotechnic faculty of Žilina’s University, Slovakia.

“My first position was operational specialist of I&C - safety systems. Later on in 1996 I became Project Manager of Independent Verification and Validation of the Safety Systems Software. The objective of this program was to assure ourselves as well as the Czech regulatory body about the quality of the safety systems software (Primary Reactor Protection System, Diverse Reactor Protection system, Post Accident Monitoring System, Diverse Monitoring System)” he says.

“The software was developed by Westinghouse and has been verified and tested by DSAS (joint venture of Rolls Royce and SAIC). In 2006 I become one of the first members of the team preparing new nuclear projects within the ČEZ Group. As of April 1st, 2009 I am leading the “nuclear” team in the Investment Division of ČEZ.”

Today ČEZ is developing four nuclear projects.

“Two in the Czech Republic (NPP Temelín Units 3&4, Dukovany Unit 5) and two abroad (NNP Jaslovské Bohunice with Slovak company JAVYS and NPP Cernavoda in Romania). My team is responsible for three of them” Závodský says.

“The Cernavoda project is under responsibility of International Division of ČEZ and our team provides technical support only. Of course we keep and develop contact with other potential investors and utilities as well as with international organizations too.”

Nuclear Power in the Czech Republic
Závodský explains that NPP’s in the Czech Republic have been built according to Russian design and specifications, but the components such as the reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, primary piping, turbines and generators of these plants were built within the Czech Republic itself.

“Power plants were constructed and erected by Czech companies too, therefore ČEZ has an advantage not only in having employees with current experiences from construction and commissioning but they can rely also on support of local industry” he explains.

ČEZ’ most advanced NPP is Temelín 3&4.

“We just started Public tender for the EPC turnkey contractor, we are working on the EIA report and also on preparation of related investment (preparation of site, interfaces, communications, etc.)” Závodský says.

Their other Czech plant, Dukovany 5, is still in its early stages.

“We are finishing pre-feasibility studies, mainly the connection to the high voltage grid, use of raw water from the Jihlava river for cooling purposes, transportability of heavy and oversize equipment to the site, etc” Závodský continues.

“The yearly production from those two sources is about 25TWh which is approximately 35 per cent of ČEZ’s production. There are also important investment projects, such as the power up-rate at Dukovany (with power increase from 440MW to 500MW), the life extension of Dukovany from the original design life of 30 years to 50 or possibly 60 years of safe operation. As you can see the nuclear fleet is a very important part of ČEZ portfolio.”

Závodský predicts that 2016 will be a challenging year for the company.

“Irrespective of the current economic crisis we expect a lack of electricity in the Czech Republic around year 2016 when Czech Republic could become an importer of electricity. Currently we are the one of the biggest exporters in Europe” he says.

“The challenge will be to build enough new sources as replacements for obsolete conventional plants to cover consumption increase in future. Of course another big challenge is to reconstruct and build new high voltage lines, but this is task for the national Transmission System Operators (in Czech Republic state owned organisation CEPS, a.s.).”

ČEZ Nuclear Goals
Roughly 70 per cent of the Czech Republic supports nuclear power. This is one of the highest proponent statistics in the European Union but Závodský remains keen to emphasize where the tension on the subject lies.

“A potential new nuclear power plant is not safety problem; technical problem; financial problem; environmental problem but it is a political and public acceptance problem” he explains.

“The Czech parliament has 200 members out of which 190 support nuclear energy but the Green Party (with 6 seats) as part of government coalition enforced antinuclear governmental agreement which delayed Temelín Project at least for two years.”

If recent developments are anything to go by, the company is in prime position to grow and enjoy the wealth of support the country offers.

“In terms of nuclear, the short term goals of ČEZ are to successfully conduct the “Safely 16 Terawatts” program at Dukovany and “Safely 15 Terawatts” at Temelín, which means to safely reach yearly production 16 or 15TWh respectively” Závodský says.

“Our long term goal is to construct new units at Temelín, Jaslovské Bohunice and Dukovany, which will be acceptable, safe and economical.”

Their Jaslovské Bohunice project in Slovakia has been another exciting venture for the company. The signature of agreement between JAVYS and ČEZ is an achievement Závodský highlights. The agreement was signed on May 29 at the fourth European Nuclear Energy Forum in Prague, attended by Prime Ministers Jan Fischer of the Czech Republic and Robert Fico of the Slovak Republic. The JAVYS press release states that ČEZ will have a 49 per cent share and JAVYS will have 51 per cent and the schedule for this project will be realized upon completion of the feasibility study in 2010.

The Jaslovské Bohunice is an example of the successful international partnerships ČEZ is looking to further, and the Temelín and Dukovany projects provide insight into the company’s strong and established native endeavours. The nuclear power goals of ČEZ are clear and this coming year looks very promising.