MoU anticipates Temelin construction
Westinghouse has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Czech engineering company Metrostav, the latest in a series of agreements the reactor vendor has made in anticipation of the construction of AP1000 units in the Czech Republic.
According to Metrostav, the MoU covers key aspects of project implementation and construction, and sees the two companies agree to cooperate exclusively in the preparation of bids to build AP1000 pressurized water reactors at the Temelin nuclear site.
CEZ, the 70-% state owned operator of the country's existing nuclear power plants, formally invited three approved reactor vendors to submit bids for two new reactors at Temelin in October 2011. The vendors - Areva, a Škoda JS/Atomstroyexport/OKB Gidropress consortium and Westinghouse - have until July 2012 to place their bids.
Although a localized supply chain is not a formal criterion in the process to select the technology for the plant, Westinghouse president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa Yves Brachet said the MoU illustrated the company's avowed policy of "we buy where we build" in practice. Westinghouse's latest Czech MoU follows an agreement with Czech engineering firm Vitkovice for the manufacture of key components for the potential new units signed in December 2011 and a cooperation agreement with I&C Energo covering instrumentation and control systems signed in August 2011.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
