PRAGUE (Reuters) -France’s EDF is going very far in appeals against the Czech Republic’s decision to pick South Korea’s KHNP for a multi-billion dollar nuclear power project and is affecting the country’s security, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said.
The Czech government has stepped up its rhetoric against EDF’s challenge this month as it seeks to safeguard the country’s largest ever energy investment, a key part of plans to replace coal and ageing nuclear units in the coming years.
EDF won a Czech court injunction this month holding up signing of a final contract for the project costing $18 billion in today’s prices, and is also complaining to the European Commission.
“There is some logic in the unsuccessful bidder somehow defending itself,” Fiala told Czech tabloid newspaper Blesk in an interview released on Friday.
“I do not object to that, but I think that they are going very far in that defence and today it is already touching upon the security and strategic interests of the Czech Republic.”
Fiala added that any damage from delays should not be covered by Czech taxpayers, echoing comments from power utility CEZ which has said it would seek damages.
“It certainly should not end with Czech citizens paying for the damages, so some further steps must follow,” he said, without elaborating on what those steps might be. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said.
EDF has argued against the conduct of the tender and potential state aid to KHNP.
The Czech government, CEZ – which ran the tender – and KHNP have rejected the complaints. The government and CEZ have insisted the KHNP offer was superior in price and timing guarantees to that of EDF.
The two 1,063 megawatt reactors are to be built by 2036-2037 at CEZ’s current nuclear site in Dukovany by EDU II, a company in which the government took an 80% stake from CEZ earlier this month. CEZ holds the remaining 20%.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Jan Harvey)
