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Delegation visits nuclear construction in Georgia

(This article expired 12.02.2016.)

The Czech Republic is currently running a tender to build two new nuclear reactors in Temelin in the region of Southern Bohemia. This project is part of a long term strategy aimed at reducing the share of electricity generated by coal and replacing it with nuclear, wind, solar or other clean energy sources.

One of the companies bidding for the project is the Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse with its AP 1000 reactor. This new reactor type is currently under construction in China and in two locations in the US; in Georgia and in South Carolina. The decision on the tender winner is expected later this year.

In late January, the Czech government plenipotentiary charged with overseeing the tender Mr. Vaclav Bartuska visited one of these US sites – plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, GA. He was accompanied by the Deputy Chief Mission of the Embassy in Washington, DC, Mr. Jaroslav Zajicek. They held meetings with the construction consortium led by Westinghouse and Shaw Group and the investor Southern Energy and also had the chance to tour the construction site itself. The following day in Atlanta, they met with representatives of Georgia Public Service Commission, the body overseeing the project for the state of Georgia.

This was one of the many visits that Mr. Bartuska has taken in the last couple of years to nuclear construction sites around the world in order to witness the progress achieved there but also the challenges that arise in such complex projects.