Rosatom enlists more Czech suppliers
20 June 2012
Rosatom has strengthened its supply chain by signing memoranda of cooperation with a further thirteen Czech companies. These companies could become subcontractors for a significant part of the work should the AtomStroyExport consortium win the tender to build two more units at Temelin.
The Czech companies have signed memoranda of cooperation with Rusatom Overseas - a subsidiary established by Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom to promote Russian nuclear technologies in the global market. The memoranda define the basic conditions for long-term cooperation in the manufacture, assembly and construction of nuclear power plants based on VVER reactors, not just in Russia and the Czech Republic, but elsewhere around the world.
Among the companies signing the agreements are Armatury Group, Aura, Baest Machines & Structures, DEL, H Project, Inelsev, Klima, KPS Metal, Libensko-Vysočanská Obchodni Společnost, MBNS International, MICo, PSG International and V-Kuty.
Rosatom noted that it had already signed similar cooperation agreements with a total of 25 Czech and Slovak suppliers. In March, it signed agreements with ten Czech and Slovak companies for future collaboration.
Leoš Tomíček, executive vice president of Rusatom Overseas, said, "Currently Rosatom is building 28 reactors worldwide, which is a figure that none of our competitors can claim. Therefore, in the next twenty years we plan to purchase equipment and services for the construction of nuclear facilities worth more than $300 billion." He added, "It is for this purpose that we are constantly expanding our supplier chain and are logically approaching Czech companies, which have long-term experience working with VVER technology."
PSG International head Tomás Krones noted that cooperation with Rosatom "means a huge potential for the economic development of our company in the area of construction of power plant structures. Like the other signatories of the memoranda, we regard cooperation with the Russian partners as a guarantee of quality and bilaterally beneficial work, which will lead to the further development of the local industry."
Rosatom and its subsidiaries have taken delivery of equipment and services worth some CZK2.7 billion ($135 million) from the Czech Republic over the past four years, the company said.
Tomíček added, "We are cooperating with Czech colleagues in the long-term and count on them for our future projects. For example, the two units for India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant, we had nine Czech companies delivering fixtures, pumps, cables and other equipment worth almost $60 million."
In November 2011, Czech utility CEZ formally invited Areva, a Škoda JS/AtomStroyExport/OKB Gidropress consortium and Westinghouse to place their bids by 2 July for the contract to build two new units at the Temelin plant. Areva is putting forward its EPR design, while the AtomStroyExport consortium's bid is based on the MIR-1200 third generation VVER model and Westinghouse is proposing its AP1000. CEZ is to announce the winner in late 2013.
As the deadline for bids approaches, local engineering and construction companies have signed cooperation agreements with all three of the shortlisted reactor vendors.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News