CZECH POWER
Prime Minister Petr Fiala spoke at the conference The Future of the Czech Nuclear Industry in Central Europe, organised by the Chamber of Commerce in mid-March as part of the Amper international trade fair. In his speech, he stressed the need to strengthen nuclear and renewable energy production as part of the new energy mix. According to Fialy, nuclear will play a major role in this mix – nuclear reactors should produce half of all electricity in the Czech Republic by 2050.
“Our prosperity and competitiveness will in fact depend on nuclear energy. In the future, the Czech Republic does not want to be a mere consumer of nuclear energy. We have the experience, we have the experts and we have all the prerequisites to intervene directly in the nuclear renaissance in Europe and to be among the countries that will produce, participate in the production and supply the new generation of reactors themselves. We have the means to become a centre for the development of new nuclear technologies,” the Prime Minister stressed in his speech.
Josef Perlík, Director of the Czech Power Industry Alliance, also spoke in the main morning session and stressed that if the Czech nuclear industry is not involved to a sufficient extent and according to its capabilities in the completion of new nuclear sources in the Czech Republic, it will quickly lose its nuclear competence.
“Compared to the tender from 2014, Czech companies have lost know-how in deliveries for the completion of new nuclear units by almost 15 percent. Ten years ago, we were able to deliver 80 percent of the volume of orders for nuclear power plants ourselves; currently, our competence is confirmed at 65 percent. And this is the volume that Czech companies want to reach. Who should build and service Czech nuclear power plants other than quality Czech industry,” pointed out Josef Perlík.
The event was also attended by Josef Síkela, Minister of Industry and Trade, Petr Třešňák, Deputy Minister of the MIT, Tomáš Pleskač, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of CEZ Group, Ladislav Janíček, Rector of the Brno University of Technology and other distinguished guests.