Temelin
City, Country
Temelin, Czech Rep.
Number & type of Reactors
2 x VVER 1000
Net Electric Power as % in 92 of national total
1780 MWe
Major population Centers in a 150 km radius and
total estimated population of 150 km r. region
Brno, Ceske Budejovice, Praha, Linz (10 million)
Date of commercial operation start up
or (if unfinished) date of construction start.
Started 1986, On-line 1997,1998
Operator/Builder
CEZ/Westinghouse - builders; Skoda Praha - supplier; CEZ/ETE - planned operator
Accidents and Dangers:
The original core design has a positive temperature coefficient of reactivity,
like the Chernobyl reactor, making low-power operation difficult and dangerous
- Westinghouse efforts to fix this have met serious delays and problems.
Local Contact Group:
S. Bohemian Mothers against Atomic Danger
Attn. Dana Kuchtova
Novohradska 21
37001 Ceske Budějovice, Czech Rep.
ph: 42-38-7715178, fax: 42-38-58967
Key Arguments/History
This plant is uneconomic, undemocratic, unsafe and unnecessary.
- CEZ regularly announces cost overruns and delays, the most recent being US$250 million in extra costs. Significant electricity from Temelin (at least 15%) will need to be exported to pay back loans.
- Area citizens have been fighting Temelin since before the Revolution. 60 of the 64 villages in the area are on record opposing the plant. Neighboring Austria opposes it also.
- Dirty N. Bohemian coal plants are paying for much of the construction costs instead of their own cleanup and upgrade. Even the pro-Temelín Tractabel report shows no necessity for Temelín under low and middle electricity demand forecasts.
- This East/West hybrid technology has not been tested anywhere and the safety software failed Rolls-Royce's testing 48% of the time. Similar steam generators have failed prematurely in 36 out of 64 plants across the CIS.
Alternatives:
Even the Tractabel report admits it's cheaper to save 1200 MW. Rebuilt pre-WWII micro-hydropower plants can bring 800 MW. Cogeneration can produce 1500. Demonopolizing ČEZ would bring decentralization (100s fewer MW lost in transmission) and advantages for small wind plants (<600 MW).