The Czech Republic has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom on cooperation in nuclear energy, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said yesterday after a meeting with his British counterpart Keir Starmer in London.
He said the British firm Rolls-Royce was considering building a factory for small modular reactors in the Czech Republic.
The British government, like the Czech government, is prioritising nuclear power as a key part of the transition to low-carbon energy and energy security. In addition to the construction of traditional units, it is promoting the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), intended to be cheaper, faster to build and suitable for decentralised energy.
“We have signed a memorandum confirming the common will of both countries to strengthen the partnership in nuclear energy, where we see great potential for the coming years,” Fiala told reporters after a meeting with the British prime minister. “Cooperation with the UK will help us to ensure energy security, to ensure affordable energy for future generations,” he added.
A significant shift in Czech-British cooperation was the recent partnership agreed between CEZ Group, partly run by the Czech state, and Rolls-Royce SMR, which specialises in the development of modular nuclear reactors, smaller reactors assembled from mass-produced modules. The strategic partnership provides for approximately one-fifth of CEZ’s stake in the British firm, with the two companies planning to work together closely on the development and future deployment of this nuclear technology.
The multi-billion pound investment has already received approval from the UK regulatory authorities. The UK has selected Rolls-Royce SMR as the supplier of small modular reactors, and plans to invest £2.5 billion (roughly CZK 73 billion) in building them over the next four years. CEZ, in cooperation with Rolls-Royce SMR, plans to build modular reactors with a combined capacity of three gigawatts in the Czech Republic by 2050.
Other intended benefits of the cooperation include sharing information to support the construction of civil nuclear projects in both the Czech Republic and the UK. The two countries could consider cooperation in the areas of technology, fuel cycle, decommissioning and radioactive waste management, and regulatory cooperation, according to the memorandum.
According to Fiala, through the partnership of CEZ and Rolls-Royce SMR, the Czech Republic will participate in the development and potentially global distribution of small modular reactors. “We are creating conditions for small modular reactors to be built in the Czech Republic. I think it would be a very suitable complement to the construction of two nuclear units at Dukovany,” the Czech Prime Minister said, adding that the government has already identified sites for this.
CEZ said in a press release yesterday that the first small modular reactor in the Czech Republic should be built next to the Temelin nuclear power plant in the mid-2030s. CEZ is currently assessing other sites. Some current sites of coal-fired power plants, such as Tusimice in the Usti nad Labem region, appear to be suitable.
According to Fiala, the other topic of the conversation with Starmer was support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. In this context, Starmer praised the Czech ammunition initiative aimed at supplying Kyiv with artillery ammunition, he said. The prime minister also visited the headquarters of the British intelligence service MI6, and discussed the situation in the world, especially Russia and China, with its leadership. Earlier, Fiala described the development of security cooperation between the Czech Republic and the UK as “promising”.
