Temelín's Unit 2 restored electricity production

Today at 1:18 am, the Unit 2 of Temelín NPP started to produce electricity. It was shutdown for refueling from the beginning of June 29. The outage lasted 61 days and the power plant technicians replaced during it one third of fuel, checked safety systems and made several tens of modernizations. Altogether, the outage schedule comprised over 13 thousand activities. Prior to achieving full power, the power plant technicians are about to test the Unit at 80 percent of the reactor rated power.

The power plant technicians loaded for first time ever the upgraded fuel of the type TVSA-T, mod.2. There are 48 upgraded fuel assemblies that will made up the original type of fuel. According to the manufacturer, the new fuel is mechanically more resistant, the fuel pellets have another design and there are also modifications in the fuel cladding. (In May, Temelin NPP supplemented the fuel stocks - https://www.cez.cz/cs/pro-media/tiskove-zpravy/6413.html)

Important works were done around the turbine and safety systems. Great cleaning have undergone pools under the cooling towers 3 and 4. One of the major modernisations related to the high pressure turbine. In order to improve the drainage, technicians installed two routes approximately thirty meters long with a diameter of 200 millimeters. Thanks to the modification, the achievable Unit output will increase by 2 MWe, hence, to 1082 MWe.“We will get additional power by the increase in the energy efficiency in the non-nuclear part, so we do not Increase the power of the reactor. Only, we better use the existing devices. Higher output means electricity for approximately seven thousand Czech households," explained Jan Kruml the Director of Temelín NPP. Identical modification took place at Unit 1 at the beginning of this year. (read more here https://www.cez.cz/cs/pro-media/tiskove-zpravy/6455.html)

Hereby, both outages for refueling at Temelin this year are over. In sum, they managed them with an advance of five days. “Repeated mastering of outages is a good signal even when the priority is the quality of our work. Now it is our task to ensure the safe and smooth operation, we will do the conclusions at the end of the year," pointed out the Member of the Managing Board of ČEZ, Bohdan Zronek. (The information to the Unit 1 outage see here https://www.cez.cz/cs/pro-media/tiskove-zpravy/6305.html)

Attention of the power plant technicians will be now focused on Dukovany NPP, that expects another two planned outages. The first one will begin on September 1 and the staff e.g. will exchange one fifth of the fuel during it. “We plan the outages of the nuclear units to avoid their concurrence. It is good for both energy stability and for coordination and the best efficiency of work,” added Zronek.

Since the beginning of the year, Temelín has produced 9,3 TWh of electricity.

Ing. Marek Sviták
Temelín NPP ČEZ Group Spokesman

30. 8. 2018