CEZ, the Czech Republic's state-controlled energy group, has chosen the UK's Rolls Royce as its partner to develop small modular reactors (SMRs). The decision is a blow to rival bidders Westinghouse and GE Hitachi of the US.

Westinghouse was also a failed bidder for the €16bn tender to build two new nuclear reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant site, in what will be Czechia’s largest investment project in its history.  Westinghouse and France's EDF have each filed complaints with the Czech anti-trust office (UOHS) over the selection of Korea's KHNP as the winner of the Dukovany tender.

The first modular reactor should be built at the site of the Temelin nuclear power plant, the younger of the two NPPs in the country, and should be completed in the first half of the 2030s. Others should be built at the coal power stations reaching the end of their lives in Northern Bohemia and Northern Moravia.  The SMRs should have a capacity of  between 200 MW and 400 MW.

Like much of Emerging Europe, the government is planning a huge nuclear power programme to take the place of CEZ’s coal-burning power stations, prepare for higher electricity demand due to the development of e-mobility, and ensure the country remains self-sufficient in power.

CEZ plans to build up to ten modular reactors with a combined output of three gigawatts by 2050. Existing NPPs Dukovany and Temelin have an output of 2 gigawatts each.  

The government also sees the nuclear expansion as a way of maintaining Czech expertise in nuclear technology, where it has the strongest tradition among the EU's Eastern European member states.

“Rolls Royce is just creating its supply chain. The Czech Republic and Czech companies can be part of the birth of the supply chain and join it on the maximum possible scale,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told the media.  

Environmentalists argue CEZ should focus more on renewable energy and that the government remains too beholden to the country's powerful fossil fuel and nuclear energy lobbies.