10. 4. 2014

Today ČEZ decided to cancel procurement procedure for construction of Temelin nuclear power plant

Today ČEZ cancelled the procurement procedure in accordance with Public Procurement Act for construction of two nuclear units in the location of Temelin nuclear power plant and subsequently sent a relevant notice on cancellation of procurement procedure for public contract to participants. Information was received by all participants – consortium of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and Westinghouse Electric Czech Republic s.r.o., consortium of ŠKODA JS, Atomstroyexport and Gidropress and also earlier excluded AREVA NP.

„Since 2009, when the public tender was launched, until today, electricity sector in Europe has evolved turbulently. While originally the project was fully economically feasible given the market price of electricity and other factors, today all investments into power plants, which revenues depend on sales of electricity in the free market, are threatened”, the chief executive director of ČEZ Daniel Beneš described reasons and he added: “It does not mean that we have stopped nuclear power plant construction in the Czech Republic. Risk that within 20 years we will not be able to cover consumption of our country is still acute. However our plans will have to be adjusted to changes currently being prepared in Brussels. Apparently, in the future it will be necessary to cooperate closely with the state in order to secure further development of nuclear energy.”

This decision was preceded by communication with the Czech government. Given continued discussion about future of electricity sector in the EU, the government currently does not plan to provide guarantees or the stabilisation mechanism for construction of low-emission power plants. At the same time it declared its interest in further development of nuclear energy in the Czech Republic and it intends to prepare the complex plan by the end of the year.