EDF, KHNP submit final bids for new unit at Dukovany

Prague, Oct 31 (CTK) - French company EDF and South Korea's KHNP today submitted their respective final bids for the construction of a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant to its operator, semi-state energy group CEZ, both firms' representatives told journalists.

US company Westinghouse earlier promised to submit its bid by this day, too.

The new unit at Dukovany is to be built by 2036.

The government announced a tender for the construction of one new unit at Dukovany last year. Last autumn, EDF, KHNP and Westinghouse submitted their first bids. CEZ, which is in charge of the project, did not disclose the details of the bids.

CEZ subsequently held clarification talks with the bidders this spring, discussing the terms of the tender and the details of their bids and inviting them to submit final bids. The original deadline was set for September 15 of this year, but was subsequently postponed twice at the request of some applicants, with the final deadline being today.

After the final bids are received, CEZ will evaluate them and submit the evaluation report to the government for approval.

EDF submitted its bid publicly this morning, its representatives bringing the technical and commercial part to CEZ's headquarters on nine CDs.

EDF said more than 100 representatives of EDF and its industrial partners Framatome, GE Steam Power and Bouygues Travaux Publics had attended meetings with CEZ to fine-tune the offer.

EDF's proposal envisages the construction of an EPR1200 unit. According to the company, the details of the bid have been adapted to CEZ's conditions. In addition, the company has drawn up a plan to build three more units in the Czech Republic.

"We believe we will win the tender. Our advantage is that it is a European solution. We are offering a proven project and also a strong involvement of Czech suppliers," EDF's Czech branch head Roman Zdebor said.

KHNP has tried to meet the needs and conditions of the Czech tender, its representative Harry Chang said upon today's submission of the company's bid. He added that KHNP did not want to be overconfident but still believed in its success.

Last year, CEZ also received non-binding bids for another unit at Dukovany and the construction of units 3 and 4 at Temelin. Additional nuclear power plant units will probably be needed in the future to cover the Czech Republic's electricity consumption, CEZ and the state have previously said.

Czechia has six nuclear units in two power plants. Temelin, southern Bohemia, has two units, each with a capacity of about 1,000 megawatts (MW), while Dukovany, southern Moravia, has four smaller units with a capacity of 510 MW each.

In addition to new conventional reactors, CEZ is also preparing the construction of small modular reactors. The first of them should be built in Temelin.

tam/er