Czechs sign a deal with South Korea to build nuclear reactors after a court clears the way

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s government signed a deal on Wednesday with the state-run South Korean KHNP power utility to build two nuclear reactors in the country.

The contract between the dominant power company CEZ, where the Czech state has a majority stake, and KHNP was signed just a few hours after an appeals court dismissed a lower court ruling that blocked the government from signing the contract.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala called it “a crucial step” for the country to become more energy self-sufficient and secure.

“Nuclear energy is important for the Czech Republic,” Fiala said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Administrative Court said that the ruling wasn’t in line with law, meaning the signing of the deal could go ahead.

KHNP won a lucrative public tender last year, beating a competing bid by France’s EDF.

The two new reactors will be built at the existing Dukovany power plant in an effort for the country to wean itself off fossil fuels.

The contract between CEZ and KHNP was due to be signed on May 7, but EDF lodged a legal challenge at the regional court in the second-largest Czech city of Brno after the Czech anti-monopoly office dismissed its complaint about the tender.

The regional court said on May 6 that the deal couldn’t be signed before it rules on the EDF case, because then there would be no way to change it even if the French company won.

CEZ and KHNP challenged that.

The two new reactors will complement Dukovany’s four 510-megawatt units that were completed in the 1980s. The total cost is 407 billion koruna ($18.7 billion), CEZ chief executive Daniel Beneš said.

The first new reactor is expected to become operational for a trial by 2036, the second about two years later.

Unlike its western neighbors Austria and Germany, the Czech Republic is doubling down on nuclear power and renewable energy sources after deciding to phase out coal for energy generation by 2033 to reduce carbon emissions.

The Czech Republic already relies on six nuclear reactors to generate more than a third of its electricity. Besides four in Dukovany, state-controlled power company CEZ operates two 1,000-megawatt reactors at the Temelin plant.