Temelín Nuclear Power Station in the South Bohemian Region has two units with VVER 1000 reactors and produced its first electricity on 21 December 2000. The operator's website describes its preparation, construction and modernisation plans.
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Temelín Nuclear Power Station stands in the South Bohemian Region, about 24 km from the regional capital České Budějovice, and 5 km from Týn nad Vltavou. Electricity is supplied by two generating units in which pressurised-water reactors of type V 320 of the VVER 1000 series operate [1]. With an installed electrical output of 2,000 MW, it became the largest source of energy in the Czech Republic in spring 2003 [1].
Technical data
It draws its process water from the Hněvkovice Dam on the Vltava, which was built as part of the construction of the power station. The appropriate water quality is ensured by wastewater treatment plants on the upper Vltava, mainly in Větřní, in Český Krumlov and in České Budějovice [1]. According to the operator, the output now reaches 2 x 1,082 MWe, whereas the installed output of the two turbogenerators is 1,125 MWe [1].
According to the operator, the power station was designed and built with regard to adverse external influences, among them wind, snow, rain and outdoor temperature, floods from outside, the impact of flying objects including aircraft, blast pressure waves and earthquakes [1].
Preparation and construction
The operator's website states that the investment plan for the construction was issued in February 1979. In 1980, after an expert selection of a site for four VVER 1000 units, the decision was taken to build at the Temelín location. In 1982 a contract was concluded for the supply of a Soviet technical design, which included the reactor hall, the building of active operations, auxiliary operations and structures with diesel generator stations. In 1985 the general designer Energoprojekt Praha prepared the preliminary design of the first and second units [1].
Work on the construction site began in 1983, the building permit came in November 1986 and the construction of the operational structures itself began in February 1987. The original Soviet design had been improved by Czechoslovak experts already before 1990, and Škoda Praha, a joint-stock company, acted as general contractor of the construction [1].
After November 1989, in the new political and above all economic conditions, it was reassessed whether the Czech Republic needed a capacity of 4,000 MW. Government Resolution No. 103/93 of March 1993 laid down that the power station would be completed in two units. Because of difficulties with suppliers and changes after 1989, the completion dates were postponed several times. The smaller and technologically modernised construction was finally completed, fuel was loaded into the reactor in July 2000 and the first unit produced its first electricity on 21 December 2000 [1].
Heat for České Budějovice
According to Czech Radio from October 2023, the power station is linked to České Budějovice by the third longest hot-water pipeline in the country. The 26-kilometre feeder cost the company ČEZ 1.7 billion crowns. ČEZ chief executive Daniel Beneš said that a third of the heat for the city would flow from the power station and that the České Budějovice heating plant would therefore cut its coal consumption by a third [4].
Modernisation and plans
According to a press release on the ČEZ website, the power station has begun renewing the main water networks on its premises. 25 kilometres of pipes carrying fire-fighting and drinking water will be renewed gradually. The aim is to prepare the infrastructure for operation lasting up to eighty years. The first stage will last until 2029 and the whole modernisation is to end in the mid-2030s [2].
According to Hospodářské noviny, the Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček said in an interview for the Czech News Agency that the government will decide next year on building two new units at Temelín and that he expects it to approve it. The contract of the state company Elektrárna Dukovany II with the Korean firm KHNP contains an option for these two units. According to the minister, however, it is not certain that the Koreans will win the contract, because other interested parties will also be able to submit bids [3].
Chronology
- — Temelín Nuclear Power Station expanded the capacity of its nuclear fuel store with a new storage rack made by the Plzeň company Škoda JS. Deník: České Budějovice / Jižní Čechy Budějcká Drbna