The Czech Republic is a member of an elite club of 32 countries that use nuclear reactors to produce electricity.  Nuclear power has a very long tradition in this country – the first fission reaction took place at the Řež u Prahy research institute in 1957 and the Czech Republic was only the ninth country in the world where this was successfully performed.

The former Czechoslovakia started to build the very first nuclear power plant in 1958 in Jaslovské Bohunice.  It was commissioned in 1972.  The first nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic was Dukovany, whose construction commenced at the end of the 1970s and was commissioned between 1985 and 1987.

More than 80% of the equipment used at the Dukovany nuclear power plant was made in the Czech Republic.  The project documents were prepared by LOTEP (former Soviet Union) and the implementation project was drawn up by Energoprojekt Praha.  The general building contractor was Průmyslové stavby Brno, and the general supplier of the technology Škoda Praha.  The reactors were made by Škoda Plzeň, steam generators by Vítkovice, and turbo generators by Škoda Plzeň.

The Temelín nuclear power plant (construction commenced in 1987, commissioned in 2002 and 2003) has a high share of Czech suppliers – the general designer was Energoprojekt Praha, the general supplier of the power section Škoda Praha, and the turbine was supplied by Škoda Power.

Valuable Czech know-how

Today, a number of Czech companies are able to supply top-level nuclear technology and equipment. Czech companies take part in nuclear power plant projects abroad, whether they involve commissioning or life-extension or construction of new blocks.  In its study, the Czech Energy Sector Alliance estimates that Czech companies are able to provide as much as 65% of the deliveries of technology and construction work for the planned construction at Dukovany.  This includes, for example, comprehensive auxiliary systems for the power plant, the entire power section, but they could also deliver the entire turbine island, including the turbine itself, and take a major part in the delivery of the nuclear island and the control and management systems…

Thanks to the long tradition of using nuclear technology, the Czech Republic also has a robust educational infrastructure (many technical secondary schools and universities), and we are doing very well in nuclear research and have high quality nuclear supervision.