Licensing Process of Dukovany NPP Beyond Designed Lifetime

The Decision on operation licence of Dukovany NPP Unit 1 after 30 years of operation was issued in March 2015. The objective of this paper is to briefly inform the reader about all of the licensing process aspects for permitting long-term operation of the Dukovany Nuclear power plant beyond the designed lifetime. The Czech Republic has 4 units of VVER 440/213 (Dukovany NPP) and 2 units of VVER 1000/320 (Temelín NPP) in operation. Dukovany NPP was commissioned in 1985 (1. Unit), 1986 (2. Unit) and 1987 (3. and 4. Unit), Temelín NPP is in operation since 2000 (2002 resp.). Original designed lifetime was set at 40 years for reactor pressure vessels and 30 years for other main safety important components. In accordance with the Atomic Act No. 18/1997 Coll., that was valid at the time of Dukovany NPP preparation for further operation, the operation licence of each individual unit was limited for the next 10 years. The last valid operation licences for the Dukovany NPP were issued after 20 years of operation in 2005-2007, for Unit 1 was valid until December 31, 2015.