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Czech Strategic Interests Play Role in Nuclear Tender, Premier Necas Says
The Czech Republic, which seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, will consider strategic security interests along with price when it decides who will build new nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Petr Necas said.
The country asked a Russian group led by ZAO Atomstroyexport to bid against Westinghouse Electric Co. and France’s Areva SA for a contract to build two reactors at its Temelin Nuclear Power Plant and possibly another at the older Dukovany facility. The Russians were approached to increase competition and keep the final price down, Necas said.
“The extension of Temelin and Dukovany is not a private company project,” the 45-year-old prime minister said July 29 during an interview at his office in Prague. “It’s a strategic move for the Czech Republic, and the country’s strategic interests will play a big role.”
Like other former Communist countries in central and eastern Europe, the Czech Republic is turning to nuclear power to cut carbon emissions from burning coal and to limit its dependence on Russian gas and oil. Disputes between OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly, Ukraine and Belarus have cut the flow of gas to parts of Europe three times since 2006.
The Czech Republic gets 59 percent of its crude oil imports and about three-quarters of its natural gas from Russia, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
CEZ Plans
State-controlled power producer CEZ AS is expected to pick the winning bidder in the beginning of 2012. The Temelin contract alone is worth about $8 billion, according to Westinghouse’s European Chief Executive Officer Anders Jackson.
“It’s good to use basic elements of competition, yet we must respect the strategic and security interests of the Czech Republic,” Necas said of the Temelin contract. “The lower the number of bidders in the tender, the higher the final price.”
Security of energy supply will be a key component of Czech foreign policy, the prime minister said.
The Czechs will work to reduce their dependence on gas and oil from “certain countries and certain transit routes” by increasing their support for projects such as the Nabucco pipeline, planned to carry gas from Turkey’s Caspian coast to Austria, or construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Adriatic or the Baltic coast, he said.
The Czech Republic must also push for further integration of its energy system with those of neighboring countries, “whether it’s electricity, gas or oil,” Necas said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladka Bauerova in Prague at lbauerova@bloomberg.net Peter Laca in Prague at placa@bloomberg.net
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