ČEZ (Czechia) gets zoning decision for two new nuclear units at Dukovany

The Czech power utility ČEZ has secured a zoning decision from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to build new nuclear units at Dukovany. The application for a zoning decision at the Dukovany site was submitted in June 2021 and has been prepared and designed for two nuclear units at the site since the beginning. The application for a zoning permit for the new nuclear plants at the Dukovany site was submitted by Elektrárna Dukovany II to the Construction Department of the Municipal Office in Třebíč. In view of the necessity to address the objections of the parties to the proceedings due to systemic bias of officials, updates to the Czech Land Use Policy and changes to the legislation in force during the proceedings, as well as the scope of the documentation, the Department requested six deadline extensions for the decision. Following a change in the Building Act, the administrative proceedings were transferred to the Ministry of Industry and Trade in July 2023.

The project already received a positive opinion on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a permit for locating the nuclear power plant from the State Office for Nuclear Safety and authorization for constructing the nuclear power plant from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. ČEZ already operates four VVER-440 reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant (2,040 MW) and two VVER-1000 reactors at the Temelín plant (2,160 MW). The group has received approval for two new 1,200 MW units at Dukovany and also plans to add two reactors (between 1,000 and 1,700 MW) at Temelin (expected in 2035-2036 at the earliest by ČEPS, more likely between 2036 and 2040). In December 2022, the company received three bids for the construction of a new 1.2 GW nuclear power plant in Dukovany (Dukovany-5) in Czechia, from EDF, KHNP and Westinghouse, which had been prequalified for the tender launched in March 2022.