Bids in for new nuclear at Temelin

02 November 2009

The end of October was the deadline for vendors to submit bids to build two new reactors in the Czech Republic. AtomStoyExport's bid was based on what it calls the MIR-1200 design.

 

Temelin
Temelin 1 and 2
Czech utility CEZ will not officially reveal the identities of bidders until it has reviewed the bids and found them to conform to specifications. This is expected to take a 'few months', but two bidders have annouced their involvement already: US-based Westinghouse, and a consortium of AtomStroyExport and Gidropress of Russia with Skoda of the Czech Republic.

 

Westinghouse put in a bid based on its AP1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR), planned for the USA and under construction in China. ASE said its bid was based on the MIR-1200 (Modernized International Reactor), a new name for the third generation PWR model under construction at Leningrad Phase II and Novovoronezh Phase II (VVER-1200 V-392M). This is the same design, ASE said, as offered in Finland, Turkey and planned for Kaliningrad.

 

Some 20 major Czech suppliers are already lined up, ASE said, enabling 70% of the plant components to be sourced locally. Westinghouse also boasted a large local content in the plant, in line with its "buy where we build" policy.

 

CEZ already operates two 963 MWe PWRs at Temelin as well as four smaller models at Dukovany. All feature Russian-design reactors, with the Temelin units using Westinghouse control systems.