BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – European Union rules to be published over the coming weeks could make it easier to justify using taxpayers’ money to fund new nuclear power, which would pitch major EU powers against each other.
The European Commission, the EU executive, says its mind is still open on the topic, but it is under pressure to set a legal framework for state aid to nuclear projects after several member states, including Britain, sought its guidance.
A project costed in billions of euros to expand a Czech nuclear plant has been undermined by the effects on energy prices of the shale gas revolution in North America, and is splitting the government.
Several politicians are echoing experts who say that the tender process for the huge contract should be delayed or abandoned.
Flanked by Germany, which is phasing out nuclear power, and Austria, which has already done so, the Czech Republic is pinning its future on atomic energy.
The ex-communist republic of 10.5 million people, which now relies on nuclear for about 30 percent of its energy mix, is pushing an upgrade of its disputed Temelin plant and betting on getting at least half of its energy from the atom by 2025.
Prague, Feb 4 (CTK) - French nuclear firm Areva has appealed a decision of the Czech antitrust office UOHS which in January turned down its request to suspend the tender to complete the nuclear power plant Temelin, the firm told CTK in a press release Monday.
The energy group CEZ, Temelin's operator, excluded Areva from the tender for the expansion of Temelin, which is located in south Bohemia near the Austrian border, in October.
Areva, however, is trying to return to the tender process.
Areva said it requires and insists on suspending the current stage of the Temelin tender so that it may effectively protect its rights and interests.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia vowed on Monday to join forces on backing nuclear power within the EU when they held their first joint government meeting since the former Czechoslovakia split peacefully 20 years ago.
Prague and Bratislava will join forces "to prevent the torpedoing of further development of nuclear energy within the EU, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia," Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas told reporters.
In a shock announcement, Czech power company CEZ on Friday excluded France’s Areva from its multi-billion-euro tender to expand the Temelin nuclear power plant for failing to fulfill all the requirements, leaving Toshiba’s US unit Westinghouse and a consortium led by Russia’s Atomstroyexport as the two remaining bidders.
(BRUSSELS) - France, Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic rejected a report Friday that they want nuclear energy to receive subsidies similar to the ones enjoyed by renewable energies.
The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported earlier that those four countries sent letters outlining their request to Brussels ahead of a meeting by European Union energy ministers next week.
TEMELIN, Czech Republic, March 30 (Reuters) - The Czech government sees building new nuclear power plants as a strategic priority and is considering minimum electricity price guarantees to ensure new reactors are built, the country's industry minister said on Friday.
In contrast to countries such as neighbouring Germany that are pulling out of nuclear energy in light of the disaster at Japan's Fukushima a year ago, the Czech Republic aims to enlarge the existing Temelin site in the south of the country.
The representatives of the 16 EU countries that have opted for nuclear energy have identified the four 'pillars' on which the EU's energy policy must be built: safety of sourcing, consumer purchasing power, industrial competitiveness and the fight against global warming.
The Czech Republic won’t build new nuclear power plants and instead plans to expand its existing capacity, abandoning the envisaged construction of as many as 18 new reactors, Hospodarske Noviny reported, citing a minister.
A realistic plan is to build two new reactors at the Temelin power plant and extend operations of the Dukovany station until 2035, the newspaper said, citing an interview with Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba.
