PRAGUE (Thomson Financial) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus reiterated support for the further use of nuclear energy in the Czech Republic after a meeting with the industry minister Wednesday, news agency CTK reported.
'If we want to have electric energy, we cannot get along without nuclear energy,' Klaus was quoted as saying.
The current government, which includes the Green Party and should govern until 2010, said in its coalition agreement last year that it had no plans to build further nuclear capacity.
After meeting with the president, Industry Minister Martin Riman also reiterated support for nuclear energy, saying the restrictions posed by the agreement are a 'short-term intermezzo, which will finish with the end of the (coalition) agreement', CTK reported.
Nuclear power comprises about one-third of the output of CEZ, the country's dominant power producer. CEZ said last month it will expand nuclear power generation by 6-7 terrawatt hours (TWh) to a total of 31 TWh by 2012 as it faces up to environmental issues with its coal-fired plants.