CEZ becomes shareholder of Rolls-Royce SMR, to get about 20 pct stake

Prague, March 4 (CTK) - Czech energy group CEZ has become a shareholder of British company Rolls-Royce SMR, as the gradual takeover of an approximately 20 percent stake has now been approved by the regulatory authorities, CEZ spokesman Ladislav Kriz said.

The companies will work together to develop modular nuclear reactors, Kriz said. The first Czech modular reactor should be built in the first half of the 2030s at the Temelin nuclear power plant in southern Bohemia.

The agreement on strategic cooperation, which foresaw the purchase of about 20 percent of the British company for a few billion Czech crowns, was signed by representatives of both companies last October.

The cooperation, which has been under preparation for several decades, envisages that CEZ will directly participate in the development of new modular reactor technology and the production of modular reactors on a global scale.

According to earlier information from CEZ, the small modular reactor from Rolls-Royce SMR is a pressurised water reactor that uses both active and passive safety features. Its electrical output is to be 470 megawatts (MW), and the lifetime of the reactor is estimated to be at least 60 years.

CEZ plans to build modular reactors with a total capacity of three gigawatts by 2050. The existing power plants at Dukovany, southern Moravia, and Temelin each have a capacity of about two gigawatts.

hel/er