Interview with Vakis Ramany, Vice President of EDF | iRADIO

Compared to the original offer for one block, did you manage to achieve the roughly 25 percent discount in the four-block offer that Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (STAN) talked about at the end of January?
What I can confirm is that when you consider the pair of reactors in Dukovany and even better the fleet of four reactors in Dukovany and Temelín, the industrial and economic benefits are really significant. Really, really significant compared to the separate block in Dukovany.

So a 25% block discount is not out of the question?
It’s really significant, that’s the best I can say right now, I’m sure you understand the sensitivity of these numbers. It’s really significant, we’re talking about significant savings from the scope of the order.

Are you sure your offer is better than the competition? Because she is considered the favorite when it comes to the price.
We are convinced that our offer is the best because it represents independent technology, fully European. This means that it would be ensured by European industry and the cooperation of like-minded European industries. Which is the best guarantee of long-term, high-performance and safe operation.

The second thing is that we are the only ones with a functioning supply chain for third generation plus reactors in Europe today. This is very important. Supply chain mobilization is key to project success. Europe has not built nuclear blocks for a very long time, which means it has to relearn how to build in a very efficient way. And we are trying to ensure this both in the Czech Republic and in France and on a larger scale in Europe. That is, we want to get the European industry to have many more projects with the same kind of standardized design. That’s what we’re playing for and that’s what we strive for. So, also from this point of view, what we propose is absolutely the best in our opinion.

We already have one reactor in operation in Finland, we are very close to loading fuel in France’s Flamanville 3, where there is also an EPR reactor. Two of these reactors are also being built in Great Britain and we have two more there that the British government is investing money in, Sizewell C, these are also supposed to be EPRs. We have six EPR reactors planned in France and we have a project for the Czech Republic. All this means that the industry united at the European level, including the Czech one, will participate in all these projects.

One more question about the price. The price of electricity from new nuclear units in Europe has hovered above 90 euros per megawatt hour in recent years. Will you be able to build new sources with us so that electricity is cheaper? I ask because CEZ previously mentioned a lower price, for example up to 70 euros per megawatt hour. Is it realistic?
A reduction in the price per kilowatt hour is something we can expect if we achieve the effect of a large fleet of reactors at the European level and within individual countries. The greater the number of reactors of the same standard we build, the more favorable the total costs and the total price per kilowatt hour will be.

But you also need to realize that the price per kilowatt hour depends on other aspects as well. And that’s operating performance, fuel costs, financing. And what is also very important at the moment is the ability to really properly use the built capacity, given that unstable, intermittent energy supplies are also entering the market.

From this point of view, there is one very, very important element, and that is the ability to respond to system load. This means adjusting the output of the nuclear power plant to the exact demand based on how much renewables there will be. And in this regard, France is the most capable country, because we have been developing the ability to follow loads for more than 40 years and it is a fixed part of our projects. This is also the reason why, even in connection with the arrival of intermittent supplies of renewable energy on the market, EPR technology is the best.

Does your offer include any possibility of securing favorable financing, for example with the support of French state institutions? I ask because your Korean competitor offers it.
At this stage, the tender is focused on turnkey delivery, namely in the areas of engineering, supply and construction. The supply of fuel is also related to the project. So our offer focuses on providing the best deal in these matters.

The current schedule assumes that the first unit should be ready for trial operation as early as 2036. Do you think this is still realistic? Will the deadline have to be moved if more blocks are being built at once?
We need to discuss the definition of the target date of operation with ČEZ. The year 2036 is ambitious. It requires very, very strong cooperation, a partnership approach between ČEZ and EDF in order to achieve this current goal. And we are really ready and determined to do it with ČEZ cooperate.

Are you not worried about competition from renewable sources in the future? And that’s because they’re cheaper than nuclear power, so maybe the project won’t be completed by investors because it’s too expensive?
We look at it as a systemic thing. We know that decarbonising electricity generation requires all available technologies to be part of the mix. The question is how much and which of them and how manageable it will be. Renewables are slightly competitive because the resources to run them are of course free to some extent. Although maintenance and all other costs are not free. And you have to renew them much faster than other technologies, for example nuclear. Wind power plants, for example, need to be renewed every 20 or 25 years.

In the case of a nuclear power plant, you have it built and running for 60 years, even longer, depending on what your project is and how you run it. You surely also know that with today’s knowledge it is possible to extend the life of nuclear power plants to more than 60 years. So the key question is how much reliable power do you need that comes at a different cost? Not only because it is reliable and you can dispatch it and you can use it at the moment you need it, but also because it is clear for everyone – for customers, households, as well as for industrial customers.

Households need to manage their budget and need to keep track of how much they will pay over time. It is ensured by the state, the government, but on the other hand, you have industries where some of them need a lot of energy in their business and they need to have an overview of the price of electricity. They cannot risk high price fluctuations. And nuclear energy provides such certainty.

Jana Klímová

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