UPDATE - Rosatom Says Its Exclusion By Czech Republic From Dukovany NPP Tender Political

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2021) Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said its exclusion by the Czech Republic from the tender for the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was politically motivated and not market-like.

Earlier, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlicek said members of the Czech government unanimously decided to exclude Rosatom from the list of candidates for participation in the tender for the construction of a new power unit at the Dukovany NPP in the country's southeast amid a recent diplomatic row between the two countries.

"Rosatom has always been a strong supporter of fair market competition, which ensures that the customer receives the best possible technological solution at the most attractive price. Excluding Rosatom from the tender to expand the Dukovany NPP in the Czech Republic is an anti-market, politically motivated decision that does not encourage the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries," Rosatom said in a statement.

On Saturday, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek announced that 18 Russian diplomats would be expelled on suspicion of being Russia's intelligence operatives.

The Russian Foreign Ministry denied the claims as groundless and responded with expelling 20 Czech diplomats.

"The Russian offer envisioned the involvement of hundreds of Czech and European companies in the project of the Dukovany nuclear power plant expansion project, which could have included contracts worth billions of euros. Thus, by excluding Rosatom from the tender, the Czech authorities are pushing aside their own national industry," Rosatom said.

"We regret this decision of the Czech authorities, because the Russian and Czech nuclear industries had serious prospects for the development of a mutually beneficial partnership, not only in the Czech Republic, but through joint work in third countries as well," it said.

The Dukovany NPP was built jointly by the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia and has four active power reactors which are still in operation. The winner of the tender for the construction of a new power unit should be determined no later than 2024. The construction of the unit itself should begin in 2029 and be completed in 2036. The project cost is about 6 billion Euros ($7.2 billion).