ČEZ plans to build first plant near existing Temelin nuclear station
Czech state-owned utility ČEZ has selected US-based engineering firm Amentum to support plans for the eventual deployment of two small modular reactors (SMR), the companies said.
A Czech-based Amentum team will produce environmental impact assessments for proposed Rolls-Royce SMRs at the Temelin nuclear site and at the Tušimice coal-fired plant, which is slated for decommissioning.
Amentum said a team has already carried out initial scoping studies for the two sites. It then won the contract to complete the full reports after a public tender.
The company said that the environmental impact assessments will look at possible radiological risks, how waste will be managed, accident scenarios and their outcomes, methods to protect groundwater and rivers from contamination, along with considerations for transportation, noise, and potential dispersal of materials.
The assessments will be subject to a public hearing and independent review before the Czech Ministry of the Environment can formally approve them, Amentum said.
The Czech government approved an SMR deployment roadmap in 2023.
ČEZ plans to build the first SMR plant in the Czech Republic near the existing Temelin nuclear station. It is expected to be built in the first half of the 2030s.
At the end of 2024, ČEZ and UK-based SMR developer Rolls-Royce announced a partnership for the deployment of SMRs in the Czech Republic.
In early 2025, ČEZ acquired a 20% stake in Rolls-Royce SMR.
The Czech Republic has six commercially operational reactors at two sites: four Russia-designed VVER-440 units at Dukovany and two larger VVER-1000 units at Temelín.
ČEZ is also planning to expand its four-unit Dukovany nuclear power station with the deployment of two South Korean pressurised water reactor units in the later part of next decade.
