Hi SP3. sorry to take so long - day off here in the West . I've...

Hi SP3. sorry to take so long - day off here in the West . I've emailed it to you as well.
Any way here t'is - a bit of argy bargy going on in CR - could get very interesting soon - hopefully not in Ukraine type of way . Believe it or not - still bullish on Rozna. ONly hope the kitty doesn't run out before deals are secured. capital raising in this climate -deals first. A

ČEZ's nuke expansion plans may split coalition
BY MILAN K. OSVAAG / HOSPODÁŘSKÉ NOVINY / PUBLISHED 29 FEBRUARY 2008
Translated with permission by the Prague Daily Monitor
ČTK
The Dukovany power plant might double its size under ČEZ's latest plans.
A clash is looming in the government between the ODS and the Greens over nuclear power plants. The former, the senior ruling party, says openly it wants to overhaul the existing policy statement, in which the government pledged not to expand the use of nuclear energy. Meanwhile, ČEZ is preparing land to build new nuclear reactors – not only at Temelín, but also at Dukovany.

The government is officially waiting for a report by a committee led by Academy of Sciences head Václav Pačes. The team will map out the future of the country's energy policy.

ODS politicians are already saying that in the end the plan to build more nukes will be endorsed. "After the report's publication we will propose a revision of the policy statement," says Oldřich Vojíř (ODS), chair of the lower-house economy committee. "The atom is our best option for power production."

Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Tomáš Hüner says a proposed national energy strategy will also support the use of nuclear energy. The cabinet should vote on the strategy in the second half of this year.

So far, the Greens say the government policy will not change. The party maintains that the country does not need more nuclear power plants.

Meanwhile, ČEZ has applied for a zoning change that would allow the construction of two more reactors at the existing Temelín plant. In the summer, the power group will commission a study on the project's environmental impact.

As a novelty, ČEZ says it might also build two more reactors at the existing Dukovany plant. The company will submit a zoning request and is likely to be successful. "The atom is in our interest. Our zoning plan already counts on the construction of two more units at the nuclear plant," says Dukovany Mayor Miloš Kučera.

The municipality will vote on the zoning plan next week and is likely to approve ČEZ's proposal simply because it receives considerable funding from the company. This year ČEZ will give CZK 15 million to municipalities surrounding the plant, of which Dukovany will get CZK 2.9 million to sweeten its CZK 24 million municipal budget.

The Vysočina regional administration is also accommodating. "We have no objections to the Dukovany plant expansion. People here in Vysočina are proud of the fact that one in five bulbs in this country is shining thanks to them," says regional councillor Jaroslav Hulák.

Pressure is mounting to change the government's energy policy and remove the existing cap on nuclear energy enforced by the Greens. A new argument for nuclear energy has also come out of the recently published EU energy strategy, which assumes greenhouse gas emissions will be significantly more expensive in the future.

The Czech government will wait on the verdict of the energy committee before making any decisions. The team will present its findings in the summer. Pačes himself is no opponent of the atom. "It is a good way [of producing power] because the country has sufficient uranium reserves," he said last year. Recently, he said: "Some of the committee members are of the view that we need to build any kind of power plants, including nuclear ones."