Russian power company plans nuclear fuel rod plant: report

Tuesday’s edition of the business daily Hospodářské noviny reported that Russian power company Tvel wants to build its first foreign plant for producing nuclear fuel rods in the Czech Republic. The paper described the daughter company of state-owned group Rosatom as wanting to better place itself for further expansion in Western Europe and to get key Czech contracts. It adds that Rosatom is the favourite to clinch a multi-billion crown contract to build two new nuclear blocks at the Temelín plant in South Bohemia. The Czech Republic is largely dependent on imports of Russian gas and oil with further reliance a sensitive issue. Tvel already supplies fuel rods to Czech power giant ČEZ.