Czech Republic plans $19 billion nuclear expansion to double output and
end fossil fuel reliance
[November 17, 2025] By
KAREL JANICEK
DUKOVANY NUCLEAR PLANT, Czech Republic (AP) — The eight huge cooling
towers of the Dukovany power plant overlook a construction site for two
more reactors as the Czech Republic pushes ahead with plans to expand
its reliance on nuclear energy.
Mobile drilling rigs have been extracting samples 140 meters below
ground for a geological survey to make sure the site is suitable for a
$19 billion project as part of the expansion that should eventually at
least double the country’s nuclear output and cement its place among
Europe’s most nuclear-dependent nations.
South Korea’s KHNP beat France’s EDF in a tender to construct a new
plant whose two reactors will have an output of over 1,000 megawatts
each. After becoming operational in the second half 2030s, they will
complement Dukovany’s four 512-MW reactors that date from the 1980s.
The KHNP deal gives the Czechs an option to have two more units built at
the other nuclear plant in Temelín, which currently has two
1,000-megawatt reactors.
Then, they are set to follow up with small modular nuclear reactors.
“Nuclear will generate between 50% and 60% around 2050 in the Czech
Republic, or maybe slightly more," Petr Závodský, chief executive of the
Dukovany project, told The Associated Press in an interview.
The nuclear expansion is needed to help the country wean itself off
fossil fuels, secure steady and reliable supplies at a reasonable price,
meet low emission requirements and enable robust demand for electricity
expected in the coming years to power data centers and electric cars,
Závodský said.
Europe’s nuclear revival
The Czech expansion comes at a time when surging energy demand and
looming deadlines by countries and companies to sharply cut carbon
pollution are helping to revive interest in nuclear technology. While
nuclear power does produce waste, it does not produce greenhouse gas
emissions, like carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change.
The European Union has accepted nuclear by including it in the
classification system for environmentally sustainable economic
activities, opening the door to financing. That has been a boost for the
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and France — the continent’s nuclear
leader — that have heavily relied on nuclear.
Belgium and Sweden recently scrapped plans to phase out nuclear power.
Denmark and Italy are reconsidering its use, while Poland is set to join
a club of 12 nuclear-friendly nations in the European Union after
signing a deal with U.S.-based Westinghouse to build three nuclear
units.
The EU generated 24% of nuclear electricity in 2024.
Britain signed a cooperation deal with the United States in September
that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said would lead to “a golden age of
nuclear in this country.” It will also invest 14.2 billion pounds ($19
billion) to build the Sizewell C nuclear power plant, the first in the
U.K. since 1995.
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Cooling towers of the Dukovany nuclear power are seen in Dukovany,
Czech Republic, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
 CEZ, the dominant Czech power
company in which the government holds a 70% stake, and Britain’s
Rolls-Royce SMR have agreed on a strategic partnership to develop
and deploy small modular nuclear reactors.
Money matters
The cost of the Dukovany project is estimated at over $19 billion,
with the government agreeing to acquire an 80% majority in the new
plant. The government will secure a loan for the new units that CEZ
will repay over 30 years. The state will also guarantee a stable
income from the electricity production for CEZ for 40 years.
Approval is expected to be granted by the EU, which aims to become
“climate-neutral” by 2050.
“We’re in a good position to argue that we won’t be able to do
without new nuclear units,” Závodský said. “Today, we get some 40%
electricity from nuclear, but we also currently get another 40% from
coal. It’s clear we have to replace the coal.”
Uncertainty over financing has caused a significant delay in the
nuclear expansion. In 2014, CEZ canceled a tender to build two
reactors at the existing Temelin nuclear plant after the government
refused to provide financial guarantees.
Russia’s energy giant Rosatom and China’s CNG were excluded from the
Dukovany tender on security grounds following the Kremlin’s invasion
of Ukraine.
CEZ signed a deal wit h Westinghouse and France’s Framatome to
supply nuclear fuel for its two nuclear plants, eliminating the
country’s dependence on Russia. The contract with KHNP secures fuel
supplies for 10 years.
Opposition
While atomic energy enjoys public support, skeptical voices can be
heard at home and abroad.
The Friends of the Earth say it is too costly and the money could be
better used for improving the industry. The country also still does
not have a permanent storage for spent fuel.
The Dukovany and Temelín plants are located near the border with
Austria, which abandoned nuclear energy after the 1986 Chernobyl
nuclear explosion. In 2000, a dispute over the Temelín plant
resulted in a political crisis and blocked border crossings for
weeks.
Austria remains the most nuclear-skeptical EU country and its lower
house of Parliament has already rejected the Czech small modular
reactors plan.
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