We attended the Westinghouse and Bechtel Supplier Summit

As part of the planned completion of new nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic, a supplier summit organized by Westinghouse Electric Company and Bechtel took place in Prague. The event was held in cooperation with the Czech Power Industry Alliance, of which ZAT is a founding member.

"Our control systems are deployed in 30% of nuclear power plants in the EU and 10% worldwide. We control 90% of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant, and we are significantly involved in the operation of the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant. We are therefore extremely interested in being part of the supply chain for the completion of new nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic," says Karel Stočes, who attended the event together with his colleague František Kural.

"At the summit we discussed with representatives of Westihghouse and Bechtel about possible cooperation and involvement of ZAT solutions and services in their projects not only in the Czech Republic, but also in other countries where they are currently planning to build new nuclear units," added František Kural.

At the beginning of the summit, the appointed US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Bijan Sabet, welcomed representatives of 55 Czech companies. "Westinghouse and Bechtel assured me that they take the Czech Republic very seriously. The companies have been working together for more than 70 years to successfully deliver nuclear power assets in an effort to ensure a clean and resilient energy infrastructure," Ambassador Sabet remarked at the Supplier Day event. "They recognize your expertise and experience and know that strong relationships with you and your companies are not only helpful, but essential to success."

Josef Perlík, Executive Director of the Czech Power Industry Alliance, also commented on the mutual cooperation between the two companies and Czech companies, "Czech industry appreciates the interest of both companies in cooperation and is ready to get involved in the supply chain and project implementation to the maximum extent possible. We see the current discussion between the partners as a unique opportunity to create a strategic partnership between the two parties, which can be very beneficial and interesting for the Czech Republic as well as for other countries planning nuclear power development."

As shown by the analysis of the potential of the Czech industry published by the Higher School of Economics last Thursday, the participation of Czech companies in the construction of new nuclear power plants is possible to the extent of 65% of the total supply in the combination of construction and technology. In addition, a possible strategic partnership could open up the possibility of their involvement not only in the individual supply of individual components and equipment, but also in the management of the supply of higher logical units of individual parts of the construction of new nuclear power plants.

You can read more information about the summit, for example, on the Czech Power Industry Alliance website.