2. 1. 2023

Czech nuclear power plants announce record production

Czech nuclear power plants produced a record amount of energy in 2022. They supplied 31 TWh of electricity to the transmission network, 300,000 megawatt hours more than in the previous year. Thus, they saved approximately 22.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. The record production is the result of a series of modernizations and improvements that increased the reliability and performance of both key Czech energy sources. In 2023, CEZ expects a slightly lower production of the nucelar power plants due to very extensive investments into their planned at least 60 years of operation.

In the past year, both Czech nuclear power plants benefited from safe and reliable operation, well managed outage dates and slightly increased output. Due to these factors, they exceeded 30 TWh for the fourth consecutive year before Christmas.

"We are fulfilling our aims to be a key to be a key Czech emission-free source. We invest around 4 billion crowns annually in increasing the safety, reliability and efficient operation of our nuclear units, and we have similar plans in the coming years as well," explains the Chairman of the Board and CEO of CEZ Group, Daniel Beneš.

The extensive investment program is also related to the planned operation of both sources for at least 60 years. The effect of this are also the longer planned outages of the Dukovany power plant this year. "Operational safety and the corresponding condition of the equipment are absolutely key for us, which is why we expect significant investments in the coming years. In Dukovany, for example, we will start the gradual cleaning of steam generators with the aim of ensuring their long-term reliability," adds Bohdan Zronek, a member of the board of directors and director of the nuclear energy division of the CEZ Group.

During the energy crisis caused by Russia's aggression in Ukraine, both Dukovany and Temelín increased their levels of production. Dukovany power plant produced 14.73 TWh in 2022, whereas Temelín achieved a slightly higher production of 16.29 TWh in the same year.

Thanks to modifications in recent years, the output of Czech nuclear power has safely increased by approximately 500 megawatts, which is comparable to the construction of a smaller nuclear unit.

In 2021, all power plants in the Czech Republic supplied 84.9 TWh of energy to the transmission network, CEZ's share of this volume was approximately 75%. In the long term, the share of coal is decreasing and the share of production of emission-free sources such as nuclear and renewables is increasing.

In 2022, the Dukovany and Temelín power plants produced exactly 30,840,078 megawatt hours of electricity and played a fundamental role in the emission-free production of the CEZ Group. Annually, thanks to nuclear power plants, approximately 22.5 million tons of CO2 are not released into the atmosphere.