Czech power group ČEZ has become a shareholder in UK-based Rolls-Royce SMR. The gradual takeover of a one-fifth share of the company has now been approved by regulators. The companies will cooperate in the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), ČEZ spokesman Ladislav Kříž announced. Rolls-Royce SMR was selected in September 2024 as the preferred supplier for the development and construction of a number of SMRs by the Czech government from a shortlist of seven companies.
The first SMR is expected to be built in the first half of the 2030s at the Temelín NPP. The agreement on strategic cooperation, which also provided for the purchase of about 20% of Rolls-Royce SMR, was signed by representatives of both companies in October 2024. In the longer term, ČEZ plans to build SMRs with a total output of 3 GWe by 2050. These should be used primarily for heat supply and should be sited in the territory of current coal-fired power plants, for example in Prunéřov or Dětmarovice.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala described the construction of SMRs as a significant development, which will contribute to increasing energy security and self-sufficiency.
The Rolls-Royce SMR design is a three loop PWR with an output of 470 MWe derived from 1,358 MWt. The Rolls-Royce SMR concept is centred on modularisation of reliable and proven technology, allowing maximum use of the factory environment to combine standard components with advanced manufacturing techniques. The factory-built modularisation approach is expected to drastically reduce the amount of on-site construction while its compact footprint and modular design means it can be located alongside energy intensive industrial processes.
The Czech Republic currently gets about one-third of its electricity from four VVER-440 units at Dukovany NPP, which began operating between 1985 and 1987, and the two VVER-1000 units at Temelín NPP, which began operation in 2000 and 2002. In July, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) was named the preferred bidder for up to four new units at Dukovany with the target of the first unit entering commercial operation in 2038.
