The selection of sites for existing and new nuclear power units in the Czech Republic is correct, according to the preliminary conclusion of the international review requested by power company CEZ through the State Office for Nuclear Safety, Cez said on 23 May. The mission included six experts from Switzerland, France and Japan and an independent observer from Austria.
The mission, which took place under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), focused on seismic safety assessment of both the Temelin and Dukovany NPP sites. The experts spent the first three days at the Temelín plant, where, among other things, they checked the seismic control stations around the power plant and the compliance of the methodologies and calculations of seismic resistance in comparison with the latest IAEA rules. They then moved to the Dukovany NPP, visited the site for the construction of a new source and a prototype of a new modern seismograph, which is located directly in the power plant.
"This special device has the property that it can be placed directly in the power plant because it can eliminate its seismic noise. Rotafon, as the seismograph is called, has been patented and registered since 2021, for example in Greece, Iceland and especially in the United States," said Jirí Málek from the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
"The preliminary summary of the inspection confirms the correctness of the selection of both sites for the location of existing or new nuclear sources, but we will not receive official results until the following months. We presented the maximum amount of documents and information to the members of the mission," said Bohdan Zronek, a member of the CEZ Board of Directors and Director of the Nuclear Energy Division.
The inspectors focused on both existing production units and plans to build additional nuclear facilities, including small modular reactors. "Stable subsoil is one of the key factors for the location of nuclear facilities. We confirmed the suitability and resistance of both sites against strong shocks and their very low probability when conducting detailed studies for the construction of new sources. Nevertheless, the conclusions of the mission are very valuable to us,” explained Tomáš Pleskac, a member of the CEZ Board of Directors and Director of the New Energy Division.
