Czech government selects special representative to keep tabs on Temelín nuclear contract

The Czech government has nominated its own special commissioner to keep an eye and keep it informed about the crucial decision on who will win the contract to complete its controversial Temelín nuclear power plant. The contract will probably be the biggest for decades in the country and pits French, Russian and US nuclear power companies against each other.

State-controlled electricity giant ČEZ has organised a tender to build two new nuclear reactors at its existing Temelín plant with the option for another three units. One of these could be in the Czech Republic at its other nuclear site at Dukovany, another as part of its joint venture with the Slovak government and a third option is being held in reserve.

While ČEZ is primarily interested in getting the most Terawatts for its money at Temelín, the Czech government sees the deal as of vital strategic importance. For that reason it nominated Václav Bartuška, its former high representative for energy security, as its representative for dealing with the Temelín contract.

Mr. Bartuška explained what he expects his role is gong to be:

Václav Bartuška

“It is I would say an information role for the government, so the government can have full and complete information about the tender, about the whole procedure of choosing the supplier for Temelín 3 and 4, the two new reactors. And it is also providing an interface with the companies and the governments behind them.”

Clearly there are big bucks involved in this tender. Some estimates have put the cost of the two Temelín reactors at around 500 billion crowns, around 25 billion US dollars, but a more realistic figure would be around 300 billion crowns. But it is a lot more than that, Mr. Bartuška again:

“I think that any nuclear tender in the world is a deeply strategic decision whether it is in Abu Dhabi, Finland, or the Czech Republic. You are choosing a friend, a collaborator, a supplier for the next, basically, 100 years. Fifteen to 20 years for construction, 60-80 years for operating the reactor and then 20 more years for decommissioning. So clearly, it is a long-term decision that will have an impact not just on this generation of Czechs but on the future ones as well.”

Temelín nuclear power plant

The Czech Republic is currently one of the few European countries along with France with a broad and recent nuclear power know-how. The new government appointee says that he sees a big part of his role in safeguarding that know-how and if possible expanding it to areas where the Czech Republic has more limited competence. For that reason he will be closely following the rival bids of France’s Areva, US-based Westinghouse and the Czech-Russian consortium of Škoda JS and Atomstrojexport.

ČEZ is supposed to decide on the winning bidder by the spring of 2012. But ahead of that crucial call this will be a burning issue with a lot of pressure from Washington, Moscow and Paris to sway the contract their way and Mr. Bartuška and the Czech government trying to get as much as possible in return.