Chinese show interest in building Czech nuclear plant - industry minister

KEPCO Engineering & Construction Co

14/10/2014 13:04

PRAGUE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - China has shown interest in 
building nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic, Industry and 
Trade Minister Jan Mladek said on Tuesday, joining four other 
potential contractors. 
    The Czech government is considering opening a new selection 
process for building nuclear power units after majority 
state-owned utility CEZ  CEZP.PR  scrapped a tender to build two 
new blocks of 1,200 megawatts each in April. ID:nL6N0N23OO    
    "We have at least five entities who declared, either 
officially, semi-officially or unofficially, their interest in 
building," Mladek told reporters. 
    He said a company from China could join the participants in 
the original tender - France's Areva  AREVA.PA , a consortium 
including Russia's Atomstroyexport and Toshiba  6502.T  U.S. 
unit Westinghouse. Korea's KEPCO  052690.KS  has also shown 
interest in a potential new tender. 
    The process comes as the government prepares a new energy 
strategy to try and secure long-term sufficient energy resources 
for the country.  
    "The crisis surrounding Ukraine will lead to certain 
emphasis on domestic sources. I am thinking brown coal and also 
nuclear power plants," Mladek said. 
    He said a preferred solution could be to build one new 
reactor in each of the country's two existing power plants, 
Temelin and Dukovany. 
    Most Czech political parties back nuclear power, but the 
current centre-left cabinet, in power since January, refused to 
provide price guarantees for power generated by the new units. 
    Since then, the EU has approved a price guarantee scheme for 
a British nuclear project.  ID:nL6N0S31JE  
 
 (Reporting by Jan Strouhal; Writing by Robert Muller; Editing 
by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) 
 ((robert.muller@thomsonreuters.com; +420224190475; Reuters 
Messaging: robert.muller.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CZECH NUCLEAR/