Ceske Budejovice, South Bohemia, Feb 23 (CTK) – CEZ energy group will invest Kc900m in the modernisation of nuclear power plant Temelin this year and will take on 80 employees, Temelin director Jan Kruml told journalists today.
Temelin’s operator will carry out 60 investment projects aimed at improving the safety standards and raising the plant’s output. Nearly Kc1bn will be invested in maintenance this year. CEZ has made Kc18bn worth of investments in Temelin since the launch of its operation in December 2000, Kruml said.
The shutdown of unit 2 will begin at Temelin on June 29 and will last for two months. It will entail fuel replacement, revision and regular maintenance of the equipment, plus a turbogenerator check, Kruml said.
The unit 1 outage will end in the first quarter of March, Kruml said. Unit 1 was was disconnected from the power grid in December last year.
A few days ago the volume compensator was modernised, that is the equipment that is regulating pressure in the reactor. Replacement of cooling water pipes and modernisation of pumps are some of the projects that will be implemented this year.
“The unit output will be raised modestly,” Kruml said.
Temelin will strengthen the technological barriers because of the new atomic act as well as the physical protection system, with the changes to be completed by the end of 2019, Kruml said.
Temelin is making preparations for the renewal of an operating licence. The State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB) granted CEZ the permission to run the first and second units at Temelin until the middle of October 2020 and until May 2022, respectively.
In an application for the licence’s renewal, which must be filed until April 2020, CEZ will have to provide information on Temelin’s condition, its existing safety systems, a plan for their further improvement and investment projects to be carried out in the next ten years, said Bohdan Zronek, member of CEZ’s board of directors and head of the nuclear energy division.
The new licence will be granted indefinitely, he added.
Temelin, which currently employs 1,197 employees, is the largest electricity producer in the Czech Republic, covering a fifth of its consumption.
Last year, the power plant generated 16.48 terawatt hours (TWh) of electrical power, which was the record annual figure. Temelin’s power would be enough for the Czech households’ 13-month consumption and households in the south of Bohemia would consume it over a period of 13.5 years.