3 bidders want to build 2 more Czech reactors

[July 02, 2012]  PRAGUE (AP) -- Czech state-run power utility CEZ says it has received bids from three international companies to build two more nuclear reactors at the Temelin nuclear power station in the country's south.

CEZ says the bidders for the multibillion-dollar contract -- U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co., a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp., France's state-owned nuclear engineering giant Areva SA and a consortium led by Russia's Atomstroyexport -- submitted their bids by Monday's deadline.

The deal -- estimated to be worth more than $10 billion -- is to be signed by the end of 2013, with the two reactors -- bringing the number of reactors at Temelin to four -- operational by 2025.

Whereas some countries shelved nuclear plans following last year's disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant, the Czech Republic intends to significantly increase nuclear power production.

[Associated Press]

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