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The Czech Republic needs to decide on the mechanisms for financing the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants "as soon as possible", the executive director of the International Energy AgencyÌýsaid this week.

Finnish waste management company Posiva will share its experience and know-how of developing a repository for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste with the Czech Republic's Radioactive Waste Repository Authority through a four-year service contract.

Czech utility ÄŒEZ has requested the Ministry of Environment carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the potential construction of two new reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant.

The two biggest tanks for the Iter fusion reactor's cryoplant have been completed in the Czech Republic. An exceptional convoy will be required to transport them to the Iter construction site in southern France.

China General Nuclear announced today that it has signed memoranda of understanding with Czech engineering companies to cooperate in nuclear energy.

Work to upgrade the Temelín nuclear power plant in line with European Union stress tests is to be completed by the end of this year, the plant's director, Bohdan Zronek, said yesterday. Czech utility ČEZ published Zronek's comments that were made to local media to mark the 15th anniversary of the plant.

The Czech cabinet has approved an action plan on nuclear energy, providing for future construction at both the Temelin and Dukovany nuclear sites.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of nuclear safety experts has completed an assessment of how ČEZ has followed up on safety recommendations issued during an earlier review. ČEZ is the Czech Republic's largest electricity company and the operator of the country's two nuclear power plants, Temelín and Dukovany.

The share of nuclear power in the Czech Republic's electricity generation mix is expected to rise from about 35% currently to between 46% and 58% by 2040. The target is part of the pro-nuclear elements of a long-term energy strategy - ASEK, according to its Czech acronym - which the country's trade and industry ministry published yesterday.

TVEL, the Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer, plans to export the first batch of nuclear fuel elements with secondary neutron sources to the Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic in April.

The Czech Republic and Jordan have agreed to cooperate in the peaceful development of nuclear power with the signing of a memorandum of understanding during Czech President Miloš Zeman's visit to the Middle Eastern country.

Government plans for the further development of nuclear power in the Czech Republic suggest that CEZ should be the main investor in the construction of new reactors.