The majority state-owned energy utility ČEZ and the United Kingdom’s Rolls-Royce SMR have signed an agreement to begin preparatory works to build the first small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in Czechia.

“We will be working closely with British Rolls-Royce SMR on the preparations of the building of the first small modular reactor in the Czech Republic,” Tomáš Pleskač, CEO of the new energy division at ČEZ, stated in a press release on July 17.

Pleskač added that the first SMR “should be set up in the Temelín [nuclear power plant] location in the mid-30s,” and SMRs are an opportunity for the Czech economy and a necessary part of the ongoing energy transformation.”

“This agreement represents an important step forward in our partnership with the ČEZ company,” CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR Christ Cholerton, said in the press release, in which ČEZ noted that each SMR should produce 470MW of “stable, affordable and emission free electricity,” and that “the amount would be sufficient to cover consumption of one million households over the course of at least 60 years.”

The “early works agreement” comes just days after Czechia signed a nuclear memorandum with the United Kingdom aimed at cooperation in nuclear energy, including the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), as bne IntelliNews covered earlier this week.

The memorandum follows a previously concluded close cooperation between ČEZ and Rolls-Royce as its partner to develop SMRs. Last October, ČEZ signed a strategic agreement worth several billion Czech koruna (CZK1bn equates to €39.5mn) with Rolls-Royce, as part of which ČEZ purchased a 20% minority stake in the small nuclear business Rolls-Royce SMR. 

More SMRs should be built at the coal power stations reaching the end of their lives in Northern Bohemia, such as Tušimice in the Ústecký region. 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 ČEZ’s coal-burning power stations, to prepare for higher electricity demand due to the development of e-mobility and to ensure the country remains self-sufficient in power.

ČEZ plans to build up to ten modular reactors with a combined output of 3 GW by 2050. Existing NPPs Dukovany and Temelin have an output of 2 GW each.  

“We are creating conditions for small modular reactors to be built in the Czech Republic,” Fiala told Czech Radio this week, adding: “I think it would be a very suitable complement to the building of the two nuclear blocks in Dukovany.”

Last month, Czech courts ruled against the French Électricité de France (EDF), which filed a lawsuit against the selection of South Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and paved the way for the Czechs to sign the contract with KHNP for the  CZK407bn (16.4bn) project to construct two new blocks at the Dukovany nuclear power plant (NPP).

Czech media reported that the selection of KHNP is still subject to potential review by the EU over the foreign subsidy rules. In May, European Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné also asked that the Czech side wait to sign the Dukovany contract with KHNP, though Fiala’s cabinet went ahead with the signing in June.

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. While part of the Soviet bloc, the then-Czechoslovakia began the development of four NPPs, two of which are now in Czechia and two in Slovakia.

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.