Dukovany expansion: why a nuclear build stands or falls on sequencing

The main reactor technology and key systems will be supplied by KHNP of South Korea. The project also counts on extensive involvement of Czech firms delivering selected components. What matters across the whole supply chain:

• Finish as much of the motorway network as possible and repair local roads in the affected region.
• Secure the availability of materials and coordinate their delivery to site.
• Plan and secure enough workers for both construction and later operation.

Planned stages: part 1 (2025–2029) — preparing the site and infrastructure; part 2 (2030–2040) — building the new unit.

1. Moving materials, technology and oversized loads

The D1. More than 103,000 vehicles a day pass through its busiest section (Modletice–Říčany). An expected 3–8% rise in freight traffic will put thousands more trucks onto an already exhausted motorway and create a critical bottleneck.

The D35. Only 89 km of 205 km is finished, with completion planned for 2028.

Neglected bridges. In the South Moravian Region 22.2% of bridges are damaged, and on key third‑class roads more than 35% — limited load capacity seriously threatens the flow of heavy components.

Strained rail capacity. The Děčín–Bad Schandau freight node is close to collapse and technical limits rule out extra trains. The Děčín navigation weir is still unbuilt and holds back river logistics.

2. Materials

Building two new units will take roughly 200,000–420,000 tonnes of aggregate (less than 2% of Czech annual production) and about 480,000 tonnes of concrete — the equivalent of 25,000 mixer trips. Availability can still be a problem: existing quarries in the region are at capacity and contractually committed, and no new quarry has opened in Czechia in the past 35 years. What matters is not the total tonnage but the regional availability of deposits, the logistics and the timing of deliveries.

3. Companies and workers

Czech firms are expected to take 50–65% of the contract value, and up to 36% of companies in the South Moravian Region and Vysočina are already tied to the Dukovany plant. Construction needs 7,000 workers for preparation and up to 6,000 on the build itself; operation then needs 4,000 highly qualified specialists, whom ČEZ plans to recruit over the next decade. The problem is that Czech construction will be short of roughly 74,000 workers by 2030 — a shortage of bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and site managers is a serious risk to both the schedule and the cost.

4. Conclusion

Every year of delay in preparing infrastructure means as much as two years of delay on the build itself. Recruiting and training people cannot be accelerated overnight — technical and engineering trades take as much as seven years of education and practice. If we do not act now, Dukovany slips by over 3 years.

What has to start now

“For the material to reach the site at all, we have to start investing in transport infrastructure, launch a recruitment programme (and perhaps speed up the legal framework for employing foreigners) and train workers — all at the same time. Otherwise the new unit slips by several years. Not because of the reactor or the production technology, but because the preparation this kind of project requires was neglected.”

Přemysl Zeman, Chief Strategy Officer, Logio

Sources: Zdopravy.cz; Wikipedia (D35, Děčín weir); Silnice‑zeleznice.cz; Businessinfo.cz; Czech Statistical Office; Eceta.cz; Centrum.cz; Ekonomický deník; Novinky.cz; ČEZ; Ekolist; md.gov.cz.