Czech state-run power utility CEZ plans to apply with the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB) for a permission to add a new nuclear unit to the Dukovany nuclear power plant in March 2020, Petr Zavodsky of CEZ told CTK at a seminar on Dukovany today. Zoning proceedings related to the construction of the new unit could start in June 2021, he added.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said recently the construction of a new unit of Dukovany should start in 2029 and be completed in 2036.
SUJB expects to receive the application from CEZ between March and June of next year, the office's head Dana Drabova said today, adding that under the atomic law, the office should decide within 12 months.
The new nuclear source is to be built in the vicinity of the Dukovany plant. Most of the land is owned by CEZ and only a few land plots remain to be bought, Zavodsky said.
With an installed capacity of 2,040 megawatts, Dukovany covers one fifth of electricity consumption in the country. Its four units were put into operation between 1985 and 1987. CEZ plans to replace them with one or two new blocks with a total installed capacity of up to 2,400 MW.
In 2016 and 2017, SUJB issued licences for further operation of Dukovany's existing units, granting them for the first time for indefinite time, while in the past it had always issued licences for ten years only.
The power plant nevertheless has to meet certain conditions. A regular assessment of Dukovany units' safety will take place between 2025-2027, when Dukovany will have been operating for 40 years, Drabova said today.
Last year, the Dukovany plant generated 14.25 TWh of power. A similar output is expected this year, the plant's head Milos Stepanovsky said.
The plant will not pursue its earlier vision of shortening regular shutdowns of its units, connected with fuel replacement, to only 20 days. The blocks will be shut down for 40 and more days, Stepanovsky said. "Our priority is to check the units," he said, adding that the shutdowns were also connected with modernisation.
This year's last shutdown at Dukovany is planned to start on Dec 25 and last 41 days.
