Westinghouse Electric Company, Toshiba Corporation and Metrostav have announced the signing of three highly significant Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with UJV Rez a.s., SKODA PRAHA Invest s.r.o. and KRALOVOPOLSKA RIA a.s.-all leading Czech-owned and operated engineering companies. These MOUs come in preparation for the construction of Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants at Temelin in the Czech Republic.

These MOUs constitute a major part of the engineering work to meet national and local requirements and will result in hundreds of millions of Czech crowns and work for hundreds of Czech engineers if the AP1000 design is selected for Temelin.

The MOU with Energoprojekt Praha (EGP), a division of UJV Rez, marks the first steps in the enhanced engagement between EGP and the Temelin AP1000 delivery team.

The provisions of the MOU outline a number of areas where EGP could provide support on the Temelin expansion project, including assistance with local codes and standards, regulations and laws; support in the basic and detailed design of buildings; elaboration and preparation of documentation; and technical licensing assistance.

A team of engineers from EGP visited Westinghouse's Cranberry Township, Pa. (USA) headquarters last week to begin working on key design matters related to the AP1000 project.

The multi-party MOU SKODA PRAHA Invest (SPI) defines a number of key areas of cooperation, including during construction and start-up testing and commissioning support, augmenting the staff of the site engineering team in responding to CEZ requests for information, assessing emergent issues, participating in on-site tests and providing plant commissioning support. SPI would also support in-country supply management activities.

The MOU with KRALOVOPOLSKA RIA, signed during the visit of the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kuba to the Westinghouse AP1000 site in S.C. (USA), identifies a number of key areas the companies could cooperate on, including but not restricted to, assistance with the reconciliation and modification of design criteria documents and basic design as necessary to comply with the Czech legislation; assessment of emergent issues and reconciling issues raised during construction and start-up testing; and administration of tests and test documentation verification, collection, and records management.

"As we move forward in the bidding process, Westinghouse and its growing number of partners are already taking concrete steps to prepare for the potential construction of AP1000 nuclear power plants at Temelin in the Czech Republic." said Sandy Rupprecht, Westinghouse senior vice president, Nuclear Power Plant Business and Project Development.

"Not only does bringing on board these key Czech engineering companies reaffirms our pledge to use local talent and resources, but also our commitment to provide CEZ with the most advantageous proposal. To the greatest degree possible, these engineering partners will be integrated into the existing AP1000 projects, beginning the knowledge transfer process."