CEZ studies expansion of nuclear energy

07 March 2008

[Thomson Financial, 6 March] CEZ is reportedly completing a feasibility study on the development of nuclear energy in the Czech Republic. Company spokeswoman Eva Novakova said that it is possible that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) on the expansion of the utility's Temelin nuclear power plant could start in 2008. Novakova said that the study shows that constructing two new reactors at Temelin is "the most convenient and therefore the most preferred option." She added, "It is possible that this year the evaluation of a (new) nuclear power plant project and the EIA could start, although it depends whether we get some signal that nuclear power has some support." The current policy of the Czech Republic's coalition government, in which the anti-nuclear Green party holds several key government positions, is not to discuss nuclear power at all. However, prime minister Mirek Topolanek has called for an "open discussion of nuclear power." The Czech Republic's two existing nuclear plants - Dukovany and Temelin - generate about one-third of the country's electricity.