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Six companies are understood to have shown interest in building new nuclear units in the -  China General Nuclear, EDF, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Rosatom, Westinghouse, and the Atmea consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and EDF. However, Vladivoj Reznik, a member of the Czech government-appointed team supervising the Dukovany project, has reportedly said the Atmea joint venture now no longer plans to participate.

Havlíček confirmed the timetable for the new unit outlined by Prime Minister Andrej Babis in November last year: the reactor vendor will be selected by the end of 2022 and a construction licence issued by 2029, with commissioning expected in 2036.

"We are absolutely determined to have a new nuclear power unit; it is an immutable fact that cannot be reversed, even by a millimetre," Havlíček said.

Operation of the existing four VVER-440 units at Dukovany, in Vysočina Region, is to be extended to 60 years, meaning that the fifth unit would be working alongside them for about 10 years when they are retired between 2045 and 2047.

To help with this plan, ���� is preparing two projects to reduce the plant's consumption of cooling water, which is pumped from the Jihlava river via the Mohelno reservoir. The first could save up to eight million cubic metres of water per year (mcm/yr) by reducing deposits in cooling towers, Bohdan Zronek, director of the nuclear energy division at ����, has reportedly said. The second project will involve testing water treatment technologies at the reservoir, which could save 10-16 mcm/yr. The plant currently uses 55 mcm/yr.