Škoda JS finally and completely changed ownership to the Czech ČEZ Group. Prospects for participation in the global nuclear renaissance and opportunities for Ukraine
28.11.2022
Last week, the energy group ČEZ, the operator of Czech nuclear power plants, became a 100% owner of Škoda JS, a manufacturer of equipment for nuclear power plants. This was announced by ČEZ Group on its website. Together with Škoda JS, ČEZ Group also acquired another equity stake of the research and development institution ÚJV Řež, which is owned by Škoda JS. Thus, the share of ČEZ in ÚJV Řež will increase from 52.46% to 69.85%. The Group will also acquire 100% shares in Middle Estates, which owns the property used by Škoda JS.
In 2004, Škoda JS became part of the russian engineering group OMZ, controlled by Gazprombank. Because of this, Škoda JS could be subjected to anti-russian sanctions, which would affect the key supplies for nuclear power plants, notes ČEZ. We’ll add that in 2016, Škoda JS was included in the list of US government sanctions, which made it impossible to cooperate with American companies in the nuclear field.
As InfoAtom wrote earlier, the agreement for purchase of Škoda JS was concluded in June of this year, but since then it was under the approval process by the antimonopoly authorities. Concurrently, ČEZ employed the procedure of purchase through WOOD & Company, which is a large financial and investment group with a leading position in the Central European market. The group owned the shares of Škoda JS until the purchase agreement was approved by the antimonopoly authorities. This procedure gave Škoda JS guarantees that sanctions would not be applied since June, and gave ČEZ an opportunity to clear the company of all russian managers.
ČEZ spokesman Ladislav Křiž told the Czech publisher ČTK that the procedure was delayed because the agreement had to be approved by four antimonopoly authorities - in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine. “The antimonopoly proceedings were not easy, especially given the military situation in Ukraine. We are happy that we successfully completed the operation,” said Bogdan Zronek, director of the CEZ nuclear energy division. He added that Škoda JS is a key supplier to ČEZ and by gaining control of this company, the energy company has significantly improved the Czech Republic's energy safety.
"A reliable and respected owner will support our position as a qualified and reliable company of the European scale. We have a long-term working relationship with ČEZ thanks to our work in the Czech nuclear industry and, of course, personal connections in many cases”, the CEO of Škoda JS František Krček emphasized in his turn.
The joint stock company Škoda JS is one of the leading European engineering and manufacturing companies with experience in the construction and maintenance of nuclear power plants. It should be noted that the engineering, production and service shares in the company’s income are proportional. Export accounts for about half of the company’s turnover. The annual sales volume of the company, according to the Czech media, is about 3.5 - 4 billion kroons. In 2020, the company’s pre-tax profit was over 122 million crowns with sales of over 3.3 billion.
In 2021 the net profit of the energy group ČEZ reached 9.9 billion kroons, which is 81 percent more than the year before. The majority shareholder of ČEZ is the state, which through the Ministry of Finance owns approximately 70 percent of the shares.
For Ukraine, Škoda JS has been a reliable supplier of equipment and technologies for many decades.
Here is how the then-CEO of Škoda JS a.s. Miroslav Fiala recalls the long-term cooperation with Ukraine: “Over the years, Škoda specialists have established personal contacts with employees of Ukrainian nuclear power plants working with our equipment. In the first half of the nineties, when Škoda was looking for new markets, the then-company director took a Škoda Favorit car and personally drove around all Ukrainian NPPs – these were the first steps in future cooperation with Energoatom. Since then, we have delivered a lot of equipment to Ukrainian nuclear power plants. We have always built our relationship on trust”.
Over the past decades, the Czech company implemented the following at Ukrainian NPPs:
- Implemented the projects “Introduction of the forced pressure relief system in the containment system” and “Systems for early containment bypass prevention in case of core molten masses move from the reactor shaft into the channels outside the containment”, which were carried out as part of the Comprehensive Consolidated Program for Improving the Safety of Ukrainian NPPs” with the EBRD/Euratom loan funds;
- Тransferred the technology to “AtomRemontServis” and equipment for the modernization of the main joint of the reactor coolant pump (RCP) of NPP power units;
- Introduced the system of group and individual control of Reactor Control and Protection System drives and upgraded the control rods themselves;
- Upgraded the polar cranes for Ukrainian NPPs;
- Supplied the equipment for modernization of the refueling machine, linear step drive and software and hardware complex for group and individual control systems, racks for compact storage of spent nuclear fuel and graphite and nickel gaskets.
In addition, Energoatom considered the possibility of introducing equipment for the extraction, transportation and disposal of neutron flux sensors and thermocouples from VVER-1000 reactors when the service life is achieved by these sensors, manufactured by the Czech company.
In 2016, Škoda JS received the Innovation Award for this project in the international contest “Quality Innovation Award 2016” organized by the Finnish Society for Quality. Thanks to the use of this innovative solution, based on the principle of disposing the sensors by cutting method, the capacity of the radioactive material storage has been significantly increased. The equipment is also more economical in terms of the timing of sensors elimination during shutdown of the power units and electricity consumption. The proposed method of managing this process with cameras and remote control allows to reduce the doses received by the maintenance personnel, since the workers do not interact with the contaminated sensors at all, in contrast to the original solution, which required the direct presence of personnel near the equipment during the elimination process.
It should be noted that Škoda JS and the Nuclear Research Institute UJV Řež a. s. were considered as partners in the implementation of the project to complete the construction of power units No. 3 and No. 4 of the Khmelnytsky NPP with VVER-1000/V-320 reactors with the design safety level GenIII+. At the end of last year, the president of Energoatom, Petrо Kotin, informed that this project was reduced to one power unit, meetings were held with Škoda JS on this topic, but today its further fate is unknown.
Finally, we will recall that over the past almost sixty years, Škoda JS has taken part in the construction of nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany. In recent years, it has produced equipment for the construction of nuclear power plants in Mochovce, Hinkley Point, Olkiluototo, etc.
And this year, the Czech company signed the memorandum with Rolls-Royce SMR to study the possibility of building small Rolls-Royce reactors both in the Czech Republic and in other countries of Central Europe. It is also being considered by Holtec International as a leading European partner for the construction of its small modular reactors, the SMR-160. And these are far from all the company’s prospects for the future development of the nuclear industry in Europe and the world. Of course, upon returning to Czech ownership, external factors will no longer be able to interfere with these prospects.
InfoAtom sincerely congratulates Škoda JS on liberation from the russian occupation and wishes many more decades of successful work on the energy safety of both the Czech Republic and Ukraine.