Although Temelín is still one of the newest nuclear power plants in Europe and will only celebrate its 20th anniversary at the end of the year, the periodic evaluation was not a formality. A team of experts has been working on the renewal of the permit to operate the first unit since the end of 2018. Among other things, they had to supply the state office with twenty so-called proofs. In practice, it has always been an extensive package of documentation, assessments, plans, and analyses. Experts transmitted them mainly in a secure electronic form, otherwise over 163,000 sheets of paper in the weight of a small sports car would pass through the printers.

“Dozens of ČEZ experts worked on both the documentation and physical inspections, and the result is a very detailed overview, which is important for the nuclear supervision, but also for us and our plans,”

The issuance of a permit was subject to several conditions by the State Office for Nuclear Safety.  In general, the operation is only possible if the highest priority is always the safety of the facility.

”Getting a permit does not mean that we are done and rest on our laurels. Unit 2 of Temelín is still waiting for the same. We still have to be sure of the conditions of the technology we are working with,”

While in the case of the first Temelín unit, which was first connected to the transmission network on December 21, 2000, the newly issued conditions are eginning to apply, ČEZ started working on the same process for the second production unit. Unit 2 was launched two years later.