Datafile: Czechoslovakia

Eight Soviet-type Pressurized Water Reactors, with a total installed capacity of 3520MWe, provided 28% of electricity production in Czechoslovakia and operated at an average load factor of 79% in 1990. A further six Soviet units totalling 3760MWe are under construction, and preliminary bids have been received from Czechoslovak and western vendors for two 1000MWe reactors for the next stage of the programme. Nuclear power is generally seen as being safe and economic, and as providing the best way of reducing the massive pollution being caused by fossil-fuelled power stations. Prospects for the manufacture of nuclear fuel and the storage of spent fuel within the country are being evaluated as a result of a change in pricing policy for fuel cycle services by the Soviet Union. (author)