Westinghouse signs agreement with engineering group Vítkovice

Ostrava, Jan 30 (CTK) - Westinghouse Electric Company, one of the bidders for the order for building two more units in nuclear plant Temelin, has signed an addendum to the memorandum with companies of engineering group Vitkovice Machinery Group, reps of both parties announced to journalists yesterday.

If Westinghouse won the order, the Ostrava-based companies would be supplying structural and mechanical modules for power plants AP1000.

Westinghouse president and CEO Daniel Roderick said that the company owned licences in many countries so the companies had the possibility to gain a favourable position with respect to future orders.

The issue is much wider than the tender itself. There is the possibility of producing the modules for the global market. Interest in building nuclear reactors has grown after the crisis, he added.

Roderick earlier said that the company together with Toshiba and other partners was pledging that it would use Czech steel in the construction if it won the tender.

The agreement signed yesterday concerns the companies Vitkovice, Vitkovice Heavy Machinery, Vitkovice Power Engineering and Hutni montaze. Vítkovice Machinery Group CEO Jan Svetlik said this really was a global agreement.

"We are interested in working with them on all projects in Europe as well as outside of Europe. These are new technological possibilities on the global nuclear market for Vitkovice," Svetlik declared.

The value of the potential order for Temelin cannot be estimated, he added. "The contracts can really differ a lot, from those in the order of several millions up to billions," he said.

If Westinghouse won the order for Temelin, it would need some 80,000 tonnes of steel from Czech companies for the two AP1000 units.

Besides Westinghouse, the other bidder in the Temelin tender, whose value is estimated at Kc200bn to Kc300bn, is Czech-Russian consortium of companies Skoda JS, Atomstroyexport and Gidropress.

Rosatom, which is seeking to participate in the tender through Atomstroyexport, also plans to use Czech materials. Vitkovice has signed a memorandum with Rosatom as well.

"It is quite evident that we can supply more components for Rosatom. But we have signed the memoranda really for global cooperation," Svetlik said.

There are three global clients in the nuclear energy sector. "We appreciate a lot that we operate with all three. We want to be active on the whole global nuclear market," he added.

Reps of Czech steel and engineering companies believe that they will gain important orders in the construction of two more units at Temelin no matter who wins the tender.

"We are prepared for both variants," said Lubomir Gogela, manager of the Czech Machinery Cluster whose leaders are the companies Vitkovice Machinery Group, Zdas and Strojirny Trinec.

CEZ wants to announce the winner of the tender this year. The construction of the third and fourth units is to be completed by 2025 at the latest. The power plant should be in operation for 60 years.