Czechia has signed a nuclear memorandum with the United Kingdom aimed at cooperation in nuclear energy, including the development of small modular reactors (SMRs).

“We have signed a memorandum confirming the mutual will of both countries to strengthen our partnership in nuclear energy, where we see a potential for future years,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) was quoted as saying by the Czech Radio (CRo).

Fiala made the comments following his talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer in London, and he added that “the cooperation with Great Britain will help us achieve energy security and affordable prices of energy for future generations.”

The memorandum follows a previously concluded close cooperation between the Czech majority state-owned energy utility ČEZ and the UK’s Rolls-Royce as its partner to develop SMRs.

Last October, ČEZ signed a strategic agreement worth several billion Czech koruna (CZK1bn equates to €39.5mn) with Rolls-Royce, as part of which ČEZ will purchase a 20% minority stake in the small nuclear business Rolls-Royce SMR. 

The first modular reactor should be built at the site of the Temelín nuclear power plant, the younger of the two NPPs in the country, and should be completed in the mid-2030s. Others should be built at the coal power stations reaching the end of their lives in Northern Bohemia, such as Tušimice in the Ústecký region. The SMRs should have a capacity of between 200 MW and 400 MW.

Like much of Emerging Europe, the government is planning a huge nuclear power programme to take the place of ČEZ’s coal-burning power stations, to prepare for higher electricity demand due to the development of e-mobility and to ensure the country remains self-sufficient in power.

ČEZ plans to build up to ten modular reactors with a combined output of 3 GW by 2050. Existing NPPs Dukovany and Temelin have an output of 2 GW each.  

“We are creating conditions for small modular reactors to be built in the Czech Republic,” Fiala also told CRo, adding: “I think it would be a very suitable complement to the building of the two nuclear blocks in Dukovany.”

Last month, Czech courts ruled against the French Électricité de France (EDF), which filed a lawsuit against the selection of South Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and paved the way for the Czechs to sign the contract with KHNP for the  CZK407bn (16.4bn) project to construct two new blocks at the Dukovany nuclear power plant (NPP).

Czech media reported that the selection of KHNP is still subject to potential review by the EU over the foreign subsidy rules. In May, European Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné also asked that the Czech side wait to sign the Dukovany contract with KHNP, though Fiala’s cabinet went ahead with the signing in June.

The government also sees the nuclear expansion as a way of maintaining Czech expertise in nuclear technology, where it has the strongest tradition among the EU's Eastern European member states. While part of the Soviet bloc, the then-Czechoslovakia began the development of four NPPs, two of which are now in Czechia and two in Slovakia. 

“Rolls-Royce is just creating its supply chain. The Czech Republic and Czech companies can be part of the birth of the supply chain and join it on the maximum possible scale,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech media last September when commenting on the cooperation between ČEZ and Rolls-Royce.  

Environmentalists argue CEZ should focus more on renewable energy and that the government remains too beholden to the country's powerful fossil fuel and nuclear energy lobbies.