Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Workers have begun to dismantle the 100-metre-tall gas flue/chimney which predates the reactor buildings at the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant in the Czech Republic.
It was part of the auxiliary boiler room which began operating in the mid-1970s, heating the construction site and supplying the heat needed to start the first units.
The site in 1978 (Image: CEZ)
The dismantling operation is taking place while the units at the plant continue operating. The work should be completed by the end of September.
Roman Havlín, director of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant, said: “We stopped using it in 1987 and we no longer count on it. However, this type of demolition is not easy in the area of an operating nuclear power plant. That is why we chose a relatively demanding method of gradual dismantling using special equipment.”
The work is being done using equipment suspended from the rope of a 500-tonne crane at a height of 100 metres and remotely controlled by workers on a second crane. The chimney has a diameter of 6.69 metres at the base and 2.69 metres at the top. The inner part is made of fireclay bricks and the outer shell made of concrete blocks.
(Image: CEZ)
Bohdan Zronek, Director of ČEZ’s nuclear energy division, said: “The removal of the chimney is just one of a number of steps in the gradual modernisation of the Dukovany nuclear power plant. The long-term safe operation of our nuclear units logically requires investments in maintenance and renewal of equipment. And of course, we always choose the safest and most effective methods.”
Four VVER-440 units are currently in operation at the Dukovany site, which began operating between 1985 and 1987. A CZK407 billion (USD18.6 billion) contract was signed with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power last month for two of its APR1000 reactors near the existing Dukovany units. The aim is to start construction in 2029.
