OREANDA-NEWS. Westinghouse Electric Company today welcomed the preliminary ranking by CEZ a.s. of its bid for the expansion of Temelin Nuclear Power Plant in the Czech Republic. The top ranking by CEZ reaffirms the quality and depth of the Westinghouse bid to develop and deliver a turnkey dual-unit AP1000 plant at Temelin.

Westinghouse and its partners will continue to work closely with CEZ during the next phase of the negotiations to provide a superior and competitive project that will meet Czech and European Union licensing requirements combined with the strength of our local construction and project team to deliver safely, on time and on budget.

Safety is the cornerstone of any nuclear project. The AP1000 design is the only pressurized water reactor (PWR) design that includes advanced passive safety systems and extensive plant simplifications to enhance plant safety, construction, assembly, operation and maintenance. The plant design also uses proven, standardized technology, which is based on 50 years of operating pressurized PWR experience.

The AP1000 is the only Generation III+ commercial nuclear power reactor to receive Design Certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In Europe specifically, the European Utility Requirements (EUR) organization has certified that the AP1000 design complies with its requirements, thereby confirming that the AP1000 can be successfully deployed in Europe. Additionally, regulators in the United Kingdom have granted interim approval to the AP1000 design.

The first of four AP1000s is nearing construction completion in China, and four additional AP1000s are in the earlier stages of construction in the U.S. Contracts for another two AP1000 reactors also have been placed in the U.S. These eight units under construction are substantial references for the Temel?n 3 and 4 units with scheduled completion all prior to construction at Temelin. Westinghouse currently is in discussions with several other European customers in the selection of the AP1000.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world.  Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., USA. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including more than 50 percent of those in Europe.