The Czech Republic is looking to expand its use of nuclear power, with utility CEZ launching another tender looking for companies to bid on construction of new reactors and generators at the country’s two existing nuclear power stations. The tenders come as a new research reactor, designed as a teaching tool for nuclear engineering students, has entered service in the country. The VR-2 research reactor was built in about a year, and comes online just less than a decade after the project was launched in 2014 by the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering (FNSPE) at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague. CTU said the VR-2 reactor is located “in the same reactor hall as the VR-1,” a lightwater, zero-power research reactor using enriched uranium that has operated since 1990.
