Important Note: This website contains historical data from the INSP project. As of 2004 the site is no longer maintained and certain sections do not work correctly.

Czech Republic

Country Profile

Size: 30,387 square miles (slightly smaller than South Carolina)
Population: 10,298,324 (July 1997 est.)
Gross Domestic Product: $114.3 billion (1996 est.)
Gross Domestic Product per Capita: $11,100 (1996 est.)

Electricity Production: 60.2 billion kWh (1996 est.)
Electricity Consumption per Capita: 5,800 kWh (1996 est.)
Total Installed Generating Capacity (1996): 14,000 MW
   Thermal-Fired Plants: 11,340 MW (79%)
   Nuclear Plants: 1,760 MW (14%)
   Hydroelectric Plants: 900 MW (7%)

Operating Nuclear Power Plants in Czech Republic

The Czech Republic operates four VVER-440/213 units at Dukovany. In 1997, the four operating reactors at the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant provided 19 percent of the Czech Republic's electricity.

Two VVER-1000 units are under construction at the Temelin site. The instrumentation and control systems for these reactors are being extensively modified. When completed, they will be in conformance with accepted international safety practices.

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Nuclear Power Generating Policy and Oversight

The Czech public utility, Ceske Energeticke Zavody (CEZ), continues to support the use of nuclear power. It advocates the completion of the Temelin nuclear power plant, the modernization of many coal-fire power plants, and the closing of old fossil plants. CEZ, which reports to the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, is responsible for electricity generation and highvoltage transmission in the Czech Republic; eight companies are responsible for regional distribution. Currently, 32% of CEZ stock is publicly owned; the regional companies also are being privatized.

CEZ has awarded a contract to the U.S. firm Westinghouse to supply a plant information system to integrate maintenance, materials, and documentation management and operations support for 13 of the country's power plants, both nuclear and fossil-fueled.

Nuclear power plants are regulated by the State Office for Nuclear Safety, which is divided into three components: nuclear safety, radiation protection, and administration and technical support. The division of nuclear safety has four onsite inspectors at the Dukovany plant, and three onsite inspectors at the Temelin plant which is under construction.

The State Office for Nuclear Safety is responsible for reviewing the qualifications and performance of nuclear plant personnel. It oversees staff training, licenses control room operators, and administers the work of the State Examination Committee, which tests the qualifications of plant personnel. All Czech personnel receive classroom training at Brno, and control room operators go to Trnava in the Slovak Republic for simulator training.

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Fuel Supply and Waste Disposal

Fuel for the Dukovany plant is supplied by the Russian company Mashinostroyitelniy Zavod Electrostal; fuel for the Temelin plant is supplied by Westinghouse. CEZ has signed an agreement with the Canadian firm Cameco for uranium hexafluoride for fabrication into nuclear fuel.

After Russia and the Slovak Republic would no longer accept spent fuel from Dukovany, CEZ built a 600-metric-ton interim dry storage facility at the plant. CASTOR casks, designed by the German firm Gesellschaft für Nucklear Behalter and manufactured by the Czech firm Skoda Plzen, are being supplied to the onsite storage facility. In addition, the Dukovany plant began reracking fuel assemblies in the spent fuel pools, increasing capacity by 90%.

By 2005, when the onsite storage facilities at Dukovany will be full, CEZ plans to build a central interim storage facility that will store about 12,500 fuel assemblies from Dukovany and 3,000 from Temelin. The facility could meet the country's radioactive waste storage needs for about 50 years.

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Key Nuclear Organizations

• State Office of Nuclear Safety - Czech Republic's nuclear regulatory authority.

• Ministry of Industry and Trade, Section for Nuclear Area Administration - agency responsible for nuclear power plants and fuel cycle.

• Nuclear Research Institute - organization responsible for nuclear research and development and operation of research reactor.

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Source: Soviet-Designed Nuclear Power Plant Profiles, U.S. Department of Energy, 1999; Source Book, 4th ed., Nuclear Energy Institute, 1996.