ČEZ and Westinghouse Electric have signed a nine-year agreement on the modernization of management and control systems at the Temelín nuclear power plant. The value of the contract is in the order of billions of crowns. The partial renewal and modernization of the systems will be provided by Westinghouse as their original supplier.
The project was planned for three years. Work will begin this year. However, some of them can be done only during planned outages, necessary for fuel change. The nearest awaits Temelín in April 2022.
According to Westinghouse, this is the largest business contract signed for control and management systems since the company installed the original ones in Temelín. “Despite the system upgrade, the negotiations took more than a year. Ensuring safety is paramount for us, but at the same time we clearly insist that the work does not affect the operation of Temelín itself. All this had to be carefully prepared,” said CEZ CEO Daniel The company signed the contract on September 13.
According to ČEZ, this is one of the most technically demanding contracts in the history of the Czech Republic. The advantage of Westinghouse is that, in addition to ČEZ itself, it knows its systems best, which it delivered to Temelín, said ČEZ spokesman Ladislav Kříž.
“It is a complex of several independently backed up systems, which have been operating reliably in Temelín since 2000. These are carefully prepared steps for the gradual renovation of the facility with regard to the planned 60-year and possibly even longer operation. “said Bohdan Zronek, a member of the ČEZ Board of Directors.
According to Westinghouse, this is the culmination of more than a decade of cooperation between it and ČEZ. The modernization of the systems will not disrupt the operation of Temelín in any way, according to Tarik Choho, President of Westinghouse for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Westinghouse is one of those that could complete the new units of the Dukovany nuclear power plant. In connection with the completion, the state will send a safety questionnaire only to potential suppliers from France, South Korea and the United States, ie EDF, KHNP and Westinghouse.
Most of the fuel that Temelín now uses is from the Russian corporation Tvel. In the spring of 2019, ČEZ tested six fuel assemblies from Westinghouse Electric Sweden in Temelín. In 2018, at the request of ČTK, ČEZ confirmed that, on the basis of a contract with Westinghouse Sweden Electric, it is developing test fuel assemblies called LTA (Lead test Assembly).
Temelín is the largest producer of electricity in the country, covering about a fifth of domestic consumption. CEZ put the power plant into operation in December 2000. Last year, Temelín produced 15.75 terawatt hours (TWh), this year since the beginning of the year 10.1 TWh.