Czech nuclear plant Dukovany to supply Brno with district heating

Prague — A pipeline is to be built from the Czech Republic’s Dukovany nuclear power station to provide district heating to Brno, the country’s second largest city almost 50 kilometres away.

Dukovany operator CEZ and the Teplarny Brno utility company signed a memorandum on the construction project in the eastern city on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Details of the cost were not released.

The project to provide Brno’s 380,000 residents with heating represented a contribution to the country’s energy security and independence, Fiala said. “We are doing all we can to become independent of Russian sources of energy,” he said, in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Plans have existed for a district heating pipeline since the construction of the Dukovany power station in the 1970s.

Germany is shutting down its last nuclear power plants, and Austria has no nuclear power stations. The Czech Republic, which borders both countries, continues to rely on Dukovany, which has been in operation for more than 35 years.

Opponents of the power station see its technology – a Soviet-designed WWER 440/213 reactor – as obsolete.

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