Major Construction Push Reshapes the Energy Landscape
Czechia aims to produce up to 60 percent of its electricity from nuclear power by 2050. The massive cooling towers at the Dukovany power station rise over an expanding construction zone where crews prepare for two additional reactors. Mobile drilling rigs pull samples from 140 meters underground and verify the site’s suitability for a $19 billion project. Officials plan to at least double national nuclear output and strengthen Czechia’s role as one of Europe’s most nuclear-reliant nations.
South Korea’s KHNP won a tender over France’s EDF to build the plant. Engineers will install two reactors, each producing more than 1,000 megawatts. They will operate in the second half of the 2030s and support Dukovany’s four older 512-MW units from the 1980s. The contract allows Czechia to request two more reactors for the Temelín site, which already runs two 1,000-MW units.
Officials intend to follow those projects with small modular reactors. Petr Závodský, head of the Dukovany expansion, says nuclear power will supply 50 to 60 percent of Czech electricity by 2050. He argues the expansion will help the country abandon fossil fuels, stabilize energy prices, and meet rising electricity demand from data centers and electric vehicles.
Europe Reconsiders Its Nuclear Strategy
Czechia expands nuclear capacity while global electricity needs rise and climate pledges tighten. Nuclear power produces long-lived waste but avoids greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union classified nuclear energy as an environmentally sustainable activity, which opened new financing options. That decision boosted nations such as Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, and France, which rely heavily on atomic energy.
Belgium and Sweden recently reversed nuclear phase-out plans. Denmark and Italy are rethinking their exits. Poland is preparing to join 12 nuclear-supportive EU countries after signing a deal with Westinghouse to build three reactors. Nuclear plants generated 24 percent of the EU’s electricity in 2024.
Britain signed a cooperation pact with the United States that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband says will launch a “golden age of nuclear.” The UK will invest £14.2 billion to build Sizewell C, the first major British nuclear project since 1995.
CEZ, which is 70 percent state-owned, formed a strategic partnership with Rolls-Royce SMR to deploy small modular reactors in the future.
High Costs, Strong Resistance, and Regional Tensions
The Dukovany expansion will cost more than €16 billion. The government will purchase an 80 percent stake in the new plant and secure a loan for construction. CEZ will repay the loan over 30 years. The state will guarantee stable electricity revenue for 40 years. Officials expect EU approval because the bloc seeks climate neutrality by 2050.
Závodský says Czechia must add new nuclear units because the country still gets 40 percent of its electricity from coal. The government plans to eliminate coal by 2033. Financial uncertainty has slowed nuclear growth before. In 2014, CEZ cancelled a tender for two Temelín reactors after the government refused to provide economic guarantees.
Security concerns reshaped the current tender. Authorities excluded Russia’s Rosatom and China’s CNG after Russia invaded Ukraine. CEZ signed agreements with Westinghouse and France’s Framatome to supply fuel for both Czech plants, ending reliance on Russia. KHNP will supply fuel for 10 years under its contract.
Opponents of nuclear power continue to raise objections. Friends of the Earth argues nuclear energy costs too much and diverts funding from other sectors. Critics also note that Czechia still lacks a permanent facility for spent fuel.
Dukovany and Temelín operate near Austria’s border. Austria abandoned nuclear energy after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and remains the EU’s most anti-nuclear nation. In 2000, protests over the Temelín plant triggered a political crisis and blocked border crossings. Austria’s Parliament has already rejected Czechia’s plan for small modular reactors and continues to oppose the expansion.
