Dukovany's nuke unit 1 ends two-mth shutdown

Dukovany, South Moravia, Oct 25 (CTK) - The Dukovany nuclear power plant's unit 1 ended its planned two-month shutdown that was launched on August 16 and was linked with fuel replacement and revisions as well as preparation for increased output of 512 MW, 12 MW higher than so far, spokesman Jiri Bezdek said.

According to today's report from energy group CEZ, the operator of Dukovany, all four Dukovany units are in operation now.

The generator of the first turbine started to supply electricity to the grid again at 23:30 on Thursday. The second turbine was connected at 2:48 today, ending the outage. The unit is expected to reach full power next week.

"The work was extremely demanding, yet we managed to keep it on schedule or even ahead of schedule. Currently, we are gradually increasing the reactor power," said Dukovany head Roman Havlin. Checks, tests and verifications will be carried out for several days before the new nominal output of the unit is reached, he added.

Three of the four Dukovany units will then have a new increased capacity of 512 MW. The last unit of the plant will be ready for operation in higher power after the planned outage which will start at the end of the year.

"Shutdowns of our units are no longer just about replacing fuel. Our goal is to ensure safe and reliable operation of all our units for at least 60 years. This also entails a large scope of inspections and investments in modernisation of the facilities," said Bohdan Zronek, board member and head of the nuclear power division at CEZ.

After their launch in 1985-1987, the Dukovany units had an electrical output of 440 MW. Through equipment upgrades, power engineers later increased the output of each unit to 500 MW.

The Czech Republic has six nuclear units in two power plants. Dukovany generated 14.3 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity last year, and 11.5 TWh so far this year. Temelin, southern Bohemia, surpassed 16 TWh last year.

At Temelin, only unit 1 is now supplying electricity to the grid, while the second unit has been under a scheduled shutdown since October 11.

In July, the government decided to build two new nuclear reactors at Dukovany. They are to be built by South Korean company KHNP, which was successful in the tender. The contract is expected to be signed by the end of March next year. The first of the new reactors at Dukovany should be ready in 2036.

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