The objection raised by Électricité de France (EDF) that led to the cancellation of the 24 trillion won contract for the construction of the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic is expected to be addressed for the first time in a local court at the end of this month. If the trial takes a long time, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, selected as the preferred bidder, will have to reassess the overall project cost and submit it to ČEZ. As the legal battle begins in earnest, tensions between the countries are expected to rise over issues such as contract signing, cost estimation, and resumption of construction.
According to the nuclear power industry on the 4th, the Brno Regional Court in the Czech Republic has decided to conduct the first hearing on the administrative lawsuit filed by EDF against the Czech Antitrust Office (UOHS) on the 25th. This is the first court procedure where the court reviews the case details and calls the parties to hear their claims and evidence. The court sent summonses to EDF and UOHS earlier this month. The subsequent procedures have not yet been determined.
With the first trial date set for the end of this month, concerns have been raised that the litigation process may take longer than expected. The validity period of the proposal submitted by KHNP to build units 5 and 6 in the Dukovany region of the Czech Republic is until the end of June this year. As it becomes practically difficult to finalize the contract within this period, KHNP and ČEZ are in a situation where they need to seek new solutions.
There are ways for KHNP and ČEZ to negotiate an extension of the validity period of the existing contract or to draft an entirely new proposal. An official from KHNP noted, “If the lawsuit takes longer and we have to submit a new proposal, the project cost may increase proportionally to the delay. If we extend the validity period of the existing proposal, we intend to keep the project cost unchanged. Nothing has been decided yet.”
Some predict that the final contract may be postponed until after the parliamentary elections in October in the Czech Republic. This is based on the expectation that the local political landscape may change after the elections, affecting the timing of the contract. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has stated that there is no change to the goal of operating the nuclear power plant by 2036.
Previously, on May 7, KHNP and Dukovany II Nuclear Power Company (EDU II), an ordering company under ČEZ, planned to finalize the contract, but the day before, the Brno Regional Court accepted the injunction filed by the competitor EDF, leading to the cancellation of the contract. The court decided to prohibit the final contract until a ruling is issued in the main lawsuit. Subsequently, the ordering company and KHNP appealed to the Czech Supreme Court to overturn the decision to prohibit the contract signing.