Dukovany,Temelin seen by IAEA team as suitable sites for reactors-CEZ

Dukovany, South Moravia, May 23 (CTK) - An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts confirmed that the selection of sites for the existing and new nuclear units in Czechia from a point of view of potential earthquakes has been correct, CEZ group said referring to a preliminary outcome of the mission.

The experts were visiting the nuclear power plants Dukovany and Temelin last week, and the official results of the mission will be available in the coming months, Bohdan Zronek, a board of directors member and head of the nuclear energy division at CEZ, said in a press release today.

The mission focused on the assessment of seismic hazard for the plants and on the plans to build new nuclear reactors.

Stability of subsoil is one of the key factors for nuclear installations, which has been monitored for decades, CEZ said.

When working on studies for the construction of new reactors, both plants were reassessed as the suitable sites for nuclear units in terms of subsoil resistance to tremors and their low probability, said Tomas Pleskac, a board member and head of the new energy division at CEZ.

"Still, however, the mission's conclusions are very precious to us," he said.

Dukovany uses a prototype of a new seismograph called Rotafon than can be directly in the plant, said Jiri Malek from the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The institute was granted a patent for Rotafon in 2021. It is registered, for instance, in Greece, Iceland and the USA, said Malek.

The members of the IAEA mission were the experts from Switzerland, France, and Japan, an independent observer from Austria, and a representative of the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB).

Dukovany and Temelin cover over 40 percent of Czechia's electricity consumption. Last year, both plants supplied a total of 30.73 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity to the grid.

Temelin has produced 6.3 TWh and Dukovany 5.36 TWh of electricity so far this year.

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