Rolls-Royce SMR, ČEZ launch early work on Temelín SMR project

Rolls-Royce SMR and ČEZ moved Temelín out of the memorandum stage and into site-specific execution on April 24, signing an early works contract that opens the path to regulatory approvals, licensing papers, environmental assessment work and preparatory site activity for the Czech Republic’s first SMR programme.

That shift matters because it is one of the first tangible signs that a European SMR plan is becoming a deployable project rather than a long-dated announcement. The agreement gives the two companies a basis to jointly develop a site application for Temelín later this year, after a programme of geological studies that included nine exploratory boreholes reaching roughly 50 to 200 metres. It also locks in the commercial question behind the engineering: how a first-of-a-kind nuclear project can be financed, permitted and delivered without stalling in the gap between policy support and construction.

The early works cover the unglamorous but decisive steps that determine whether the project survives contact with regulation. Those include consents, licensing documentation, environmental impact assessment work, detailed planning and preliminary infrastructure activities already underway at Temelín. Rolls-Royce SMR chief executive Chris Cholerton said the contract unlocked a significant programme of work and pointed to the company’s growing list of contractual commitments for SMR deliveries in Europe. ČEZ chief executive Daniel Beneš said the project would help preserve and deepen Czech nuclear know-how and give the Czech Republic a role in developing the technology itself.

For ČEZ, the Temelín project is not a symbolic pilot. The partnership with Rolls-Royce SMR targets up to 3 GW of electricity capacity in the Czech Republic, positioning small reactors alongside the country’s existing nuclear generation at Temelín and its large-reactor plans at Dukovany. ČEZ selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred technology partner in 2024 and has taken an approximately 20% stake in the company, tying the utility directly to the vendor’s European rollout.

The licensing path is already taking shape beyond Czech borders. The Temelín SMR project is undergoing scoping for an environmental impact assessment, and Austria’s environmental authorities said the Czech Republic notified them under the Espoo Convention and European Union rules. Czech officials have framed the project as part of industrial policy and energy security, while the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the agreement enables preparation of documentation and materials for the permitting process at Temelín.

Rolls-Royce SMR’s design is a 470 MWe small pressurised water reactor, and industry coverage says each plant could supply around one million homes for more than 60 years. With Great British Energy - Nuclear also selecting Rolls-Royce SMR as preferred supplier for the UK’s first SMRs in April 2026, the Czech deal now looks like more than a country-by-country announcement. Temelín is becoming a test case for whether a European SMR vendor can turn selection, licensing and early works into a repeatable fleet programme.