Areva plans to reenter Temelín tender

Prague, March 10 (CTK) - The Czech anti-monopoly office UOHS decided about the exclusion of the French nuclear company Areva from the tender to complete the Czech nuclear plant Temelin surprisingly fast, Areva's Thomas Epron has told CTK in an interview.

Areva is, however, ready to fight for its return to the tender until the last instance decision, Epron, Areva's head for Central and Eastern Europe, said.

The firm is confident that the decision of the energy group CEZ, Temelin's operator, to disqualify Areva from the contest was unjustified.

Areva was taken aback that the UOHS's decision-making was so quick, Epron said.

The UOHS issued the verdict on February 25. The period during which the involved parties, that is CEZ and Areva, submitted the documents for the proceedings expired only on February 6, said Epron.

The office did not go into details, according to him. It did not take into account 95 percent of the submitted evidence and also failed to explain properly why it refused the documents presented by the French company, Epron said.

The office, for instance, did not deal at all with the argument that CEZ sent only 12 additional questions to Areva about its bid, while the rivals received up to 200 questions, Epron said.

Areva will file a protest against the decision to UOHS chairman Petr Rafaj. The protest has to be filed by mid-March and the chairman usually has 60 days to issue a verdict, said Epron.

Should Rafaj turn down Areva's complaint, the French company would turn to court.

An UOHS injunction is currently in force making it impossible for CEZ to sign a contract with the winner of the tender for the building of units three and four at Temelin.

The injunction will expire after the office's verdict takes effect, however.

CEZ decided on Areva's exclusion from the Temelin tender last October saying the firm's bid had serious shortcomings. CEZ and Areva did not make public any details, though.

Areva considers the current situation unprecedented. This is the first time it got into this situation despite the fact that the company has been taking part in tenders all over the world, Epron said.

The Czech-Russian consortium MIR.1200 and the US-Japanese firm Westinghouse stay in the tender process.

CEZ said earlier that a preliminary assessment of their bids will be made public in the days to come.

Final decision on the winner of the tender could possibly be made in September.

The price of the Temelin expansion project is estimated at between Kc200bn and Kc300bn. The two new units will more than double Temelin's capacity of 2,000 megawatts.

The project should be completed in 2025 and the new units should work for 60 years.