Relieving the Czech Republic’s dependence on Russian gas and resolving the transition to zero-emission energy. According to the South Bohemian Governor Martin Kuba (ODS), this can be the benefit of modular reactors, Kuba told ČTK. They could be in Temelín around 2034, the governor added.
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CEZ Group has already signed memoranda of cooperation regarding small modular reactors with NuScale, GE Hitachi, Rolls Royce, EdF, KHNP and Holtec. Through its subsidiary ÚJV Řež, ČEZ itself is developing small modular reactors.
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“This activity (allocation of space in Temelín) does not disturb the plan for the construction of standard two units in the Temelín locality. Options for them are also part of the tender for the construction of a new nuclear unit in Dukovany, which we launched two weeks ago, ”said CEZ CEO Daniel Beneš in a press release.
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Governor Cuba has been negotiating for several months with several American companies that develop reactors. CEZ could choose one of these companies as its supplier, he said. According to Cuba, the reactors in southern Bohemia could also develop in part.
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“Many companies around the world are already working on the future of nuclear energy. The reactors will be smaller, safer, less costly, less powerful and modular, able to be added one after the other. That is the future. Many countries focus on companies that develop and have such reactors, many of them on the American continent. And since we have the Temelín site here, it was expected that it would expand, we have nuclear engineers here, so I would like such a modular reactor to grow in southern Bohemia, “said the governor.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency defines a small modular reactor as a nuclear power plant with an electrical output of up to 300 megawatts of electricity. They are made in a factory, then transported to a selected place where they are assembled. The modules can be assembled into larger units.
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A working group has already been set up at the Ministry of Industry and Trade to address how to shorten permitting processes and to suggest possible sites for small reactors in the Czech Republic. According to CEZ, the modules can supplement renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaic power plants.
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According to the governor, this is also a chance for domestic companies. “Close cooperation between Czech engineers and a company that CEZ would choose would begin. A number of technologies are linked to this, and in the Czech Republic there are a number of companies that are very proficient in the energy sector and belonged to supply chains, but historically rather to the Russian ones, which is natural. Now is a great opportunity for a new type of reactor to emerge if Czech companies were given the opportunity to work with Americans. I want our region to be a leader in this, “said the governor.
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According to him, modular reactors could also solve the Czech Republic’s dependence on Russian gas. As he stressed, the war in Ukraine has shown that it will not be possible to use gas as a transition medium from coal to emission-free sources.
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“I warned that someone else has the gas tap, it’s not a market commodity, it’s a purely political medium with which ugly things can be done, and now we all see it. The crisis shows that we must be self-sufficient so that a state cannot worry us about not giving us energy, “Kuba said.
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He believes that in the future, any major city that now operates a heating plant or power plant could have modular reactors. Another way to boost self-sufficiency, he says, is to have solar panels on every building.
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