European Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné has asked Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček that the Czech side wait to sign the Dukovany nuclear contract with South Korean Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP).

Earlier, Czech media speculated that the European Commission could take action over the Dukovany nuclear tender, including a possible review of the KHNP selection under the foreign subsidies rules.   

“I can confirm I have received a friendly letter from the French Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, to which I will send him a friendly reply today,” Vlček was quoted as saying by Czech Television (CT) on May 12. 

Vlček added that “we have not received anything from the European Commission, no proceedings of the European Commission were launched, and no talks have yet been held with DG GROW.”

No Czech officials, including the Czech commissioner and Vlček’s predecessor, Jozef Síkela, were willing to comment on the contents of the letter.  

Síkela told CT he wants to talk to Séjourné before making any public comments, noting, “I think he is the first one who should know my view and my response, because when it comes to Dukovany, I should be one of the major insiders.”

As bne IntelliNews covered in previous weeks, one of the two unsuccessful bidders, French Électricité de France (EDF), has filed a lawsuit at the regional court in Brno over the selection of KHNP for the €16bn Dukovany project after the Czech antitrust office, ÚOHS, turned down the complaint filed by EDF against the selection of KHNP in its final ruling.  

The Brno court blocked the signing of the contract, stating it “preliminarily assessed the suing party’s arguments … as relevant and fairly strong, that is why it issued the preliminary measure. This does not yet mean that the suing party will succeed in a subsequent court case.”

As per media reports, EDF also objected to the lack of transparency in the tender proceedings, which were exempted from public procurement on security grounds.  

Czech government officials planned to sign the contract with South Koreans on May 7, which was already delayed from the original planned signing in March.

Last summer, the majority state-owned energy utility ČEZ, which is responsible for the tender, recommended that the Czech government picked KHNP as the contractor for the building of two nuclear units at Dukovany, with potentially another two units at the younger Temelín NPP to be built later. ČEZ has already spent CZK3.6bn (€141mn) on preparatory works.

The Czechs and South Koreans appear resolved to go ahead with the contract despite the Brno court ruling and the European Commission not having yet approved the financing model of the project, which rests on state support.

As bne IntelliNews covered, KHNP began signing collaboration agreements with Czech companies on the €16bn Dukovany project, poised to be the largest investment in Czech history, despite the Brno court blocking measure on the main contract between the Czech state and KHNP.