Czechia's Dukovany nuclear expansion cost could nearly double
17. 8. 2026 / Albín Sybera
Havlíček said that the CZK400bn price tag did not include costs of the financing of what is already poised to be the largest investment in the history of the country.
"If we look at how much the [two] new blocks in Dukovany will cost, it will be CZK200bn times two, and with the cost of money we are at CZK600-700bn for two large blocks," Havlíček was quoted as saying by online news outlet Novinky.cz on August 14.
Local
energy analysts warn that Havlíček's estimate is still an optimistic
one, as it is based on an optimal scenario in which there would be no
major delays or complications, which would make Dukovany the first
nuclear project of its kind built according to its timetable.
"It
is an optimistic assessment assuming that there won't be notorious
delays or reworkings of the plan, that is, complications which have for
years accompanied European and American nuclear energy," Jiří Gavor, an
analyst from the ENA consultancy, told Novinky.cz,
while the outlet noted that costs for the construction of the third
unit at French Flamanville rose sixfold, and the unit was launched with a
twelve-year delay.
As IntelliNews reported in June,
the European Commission (EC) confirmed it ended the review of the
Dukovany enhancement under the foreign subsidy regulation (FSR). Last
year, Czechia contracted South Korea's Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power
to complete the robust project and the EC launched the review shortly
afterwards.
As IntelliNews reported, in July 2024, the then Prime Minister Petr Fiala's government announced that
two new nuclear units at the Dukovany power plant would be built by
South Korea's KHNP, but the selection process was challenged by bidding
rivals, US Westinghouse and the French, before the Czech side signed the contract in June 2025, while the KHNP offer was still valid.
The sitting radical right-wing government led by populist billionaire Andrej Babiš and his Ano party has adopted the robust nuclear investment plans pursued
by Fiala's centre-right government, and expects the Dukovany's fifth
block to be completed in 2036 and the sixth one a year later, though
critics warn this is unrealistic.
In
October, Czechia also asked the European Commission to approve the
public support measures for the construction of the sixth unit at the
Dukovany nuclear power plant, triggering the official notification
process.
The previous centre-right government launched plans for a huge nuclear power programme to
take the place of majority-state-owned energy utility ČEZ's
coal-burning power stations, to prepare for higher electricity demand
due to the development of e-mobility and to ensure the country remains
self-sufficient in power.
Diskuse