A Czech state-owned company signed an agreement with South Korea’s KHNP on Wednesday to build two nuclear reactors in EU countries after a court rejected a bid from the French EDF to block the deal.
The Czech court blocked billions of dollars in transactions in May after the French Energy Group filed a complaint, questioning the transparency of its lost tender.
However, a high court ruled on Wednesday on the flaws of the proceedings, allowing the government of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala to reach a deal.
“We signed an agreement not long ago for two units of the Dukovany nuclear power plant,” Fiala told reporters.
“We try our best to make sure that the deal can be signed and the legal barriers are about to be eliminated,” he said.
He praised the signature as a “basic step in a pathway toward higher energy security and self-sufficiency.”
KHNP will build two units on the Dukovany southern Czech nuclear power plant operated by the state-owned CEZ Group.
The Czech Republic is a member of the EU of 10.9 million people, relying on nuclear power – produced by Dukovany and the Temelin plant in the south, accounting for 40% of its electricity.
With two new units and small modular reactors built by 2050, the share of nuclear energy is expected to rise to 50% as the country moves from burning fossil fuels.
Fiala said KHNP won the tender earlier because its bid “was better than EDF’s quotes in all evaluation criteria”.
He said on Wednesday that KHNP vowed to hand over 60% of the contract to Czech suppliers.
KHNP proposed to build two new units, Czech Kruna 200 billion ($9 billion).
Prague is expected to close its deal with KHNP by March this year, but the EDF complaint delayed the process.
CEZ expects construction to begin in 2029, with the first new reactor being launched in 2036 in trial operations.
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