Czech utility ČEZ has decided to split its nuclear operations from its existing Generation Division into a new Nuclear Energy Division. The nuclear division will be led by the current director of the Temelín nuclear power plant.

ČEZ expects to increase its nuclear power production by 18% this year to 28 terawatt hours as it seeks to recover lost revenue from prolonged outages. The majority state-owned utility suffered billions of crowns in lost sales last year as it carried out checks to welding joints and prepared for an operating licence renewal.

Small amounts of Iodine-131, well below levels likely to have any effect on human health, were detected in outdoor air last month in a number of European countries. The source of the release has yet to be identified.

Jan Mládek, the Czech Republic's trade and industry minister, announced yesterday the creation of three working groups of the Standing Committee for Nuclear Energy. The three will each be responsible for financial, legal and technical-investment strategies. In a statement on the ministry's website, Mládek said the move would give "new impetus" to the implementation of the State Energy Policy for the development of nuclear energy agreed by the government in 2015.

The Czech Republic needs to decide on the mechanisms for financing the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants "as soon as possible", the executive director of the International Energy Agency said this week.

Finnish waste management company Posiva will share its experience and know-how of developing a repository for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste with the Czech Republic's Radioactive Waste Repository Authority through a four-year service contract.

Czech utility ČEZ has requested the Ministry of Environment carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the potential construction of two new reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant.

The two biggest tanks for the Iter fusion reactor's cryoplant have been completed in the Czech Republic. An exceptional convoy will be required to transport them to the Iter construction site in southern France.

China General Nuclear announced today that it has signed memoranda of understanding with Czech engineering companies to cooperate in nuclear energy.

Work to upgrade the Temelín nuclear power plant in line with European Union stress tests is to be completed by the end of this year, the plant's director, Bohdan Zronek, said yesterday. Czech utility ČEZ published Zronek's comments that were made to local media to mark the 15th anniversary of the plant.

The Czech cabinet has approved an action plan on nuclear energy, providing for future construction at both the Temelin and Dukovany nuclear sites.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of nuclear safety experts has completed an assessment of how ČEZ has followed up on safety recommendations issued during an earlier review. ČEZ is the Czech Republic's largest electricity company and the operator of the country's two nuclear power plants, Temelín and Dukovany.