Skoda JS to continue Dukovany upgrades

[Nuclear.Ru, 27 September] Skoda JS has won the tender for further upgrades of the control and monitoring system of the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic. The $200 million contract between Czech utility CEZ and Skoda JS is expected to be signed in early October. The contract will cover the primary circuit controls, turbine controls and secondary circuit controls. CEZ decided a decade ago to replace the plant's outdated analog control system with state-of-the-art systems in order to ensure the plant could continue operating until at least 2025. Skoda JS is the general contractor for the first phase of the upgrades, which is to install updated reactor control systems and information systems at all four units at Dukovany. That project started in 2000 and is scheduled to be completed in 2009. Skoda JS has coordinated planned outages and gradual replacement of the systems over this period. The second phase of the upgrade will start later in 2007 and should be completed by the end of 2015.