Rolls-Royce SMR Signs Czech Republic Early Works Contract With ČEZ for Temelín, Cementing Status as Europe's Only Multi-Country SMR Vendor
Rolls-Royce SMR and Czech utility ČEZ signed an early works contract on April 24 to begin design, licensing and site work for the country's first small modular reactor at Temelín, targeting up to 3 GW of capacity and grid connection in the late 2030s.
Overview
Czech state-controlled utility ČEZ Group and Rolls-Royce SMR signed an early works contract in Prague on April 24, 2026, formally beginning preparatory work to deploy the United Kingdom company’s small modular reactor at the existing Temelín nuclear power plant near the town of Týn nad Vltavou, the Associated Press reported. The agreement covers design, licensing documentation, environmental assessments and preliminary infrastructure work for what the partners describe as a strategic programme of up to 3 gigawatts of new SMR capacity in the Czech Republic.
The Temelín deal lands eleven days after Great British Energy-Nuclear signed its own contract with Rolls-Royce SMR for a three-unit programme in the United Kingdom, as previously reported by The Machine Herald. Together, the two contracts make Rolls-Royce SMR the only company with multiple binding contractual commitments to deliver small modular reactors in Europe.
What We Know
- The contract was signed in Prague on April 24, 2026, between ČEZ Group and Rolls-Royce SMR, according to the Associated Press wire story.
- ČEZ chief executive Daniel Beneš said the work covers the project plan and licensing documentation needed to issue building permits for the reactor, and that the company hopes to have all approvals in place by 2030, according to AP’s account of his remarks.
- The reactor will be built at the site of the existing Temelín nuclear plant, near the town of Týn nad Vltavou, per AP.
- ČEZ holds a 20 percent stake in Rolls-Royce SMR. The two companies had previously signed a strategic partnership aimed at deploying “up to 3 gigawatt energy sources” in the Czech Republic, the AP reports.
- Beneš said the Czech small nuclear reactor will be the second one built by the British firm after the first one is completed in the U.K., per AP.
- The Rolls-Royce SMR is a pressurised water reactor capable of generating 470 megawatts of electricity, according to the UK Generic Design Assessment Step 2 public summary. The same design has been contracted by Great British Energy-Nuclear for a three-unit project rated at “at least 1.4 GWe” with an operating lifetime of “more than 60 years,” according to the UK Government.
- Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the UK’s preferred SMR technology partner on June 10, 2025, after a two-year competitive process, as CNBC reported at the time and as confirmed by the UK Government’s selection announcement.
Why an “Early Works” Contract Matters
Early works contracts are not full construction agreements. They authorise utilities and reactor vendors to spend on regulatory engagement, environmental impact assessments, site characterisation, design certification and licensing — the prerequisites for any subsequent construction permit. ČEZ has indicated that all approvals are targeted for 2030, after which a separate construction contract would have to be signed before steel is cut at Temelín, the AP story states.
That regulatory runway is a structural feature of nuclear deployment. The UK programme, signed on April 13, similarly defers the bulk of construction spending until after design and site approvals are secured, with grid connection targeted for the mid-2030s, per CNBC and the UK Government’s selection announcement. The Czech first reactor is expected later, given that ČEZ is targeting approvals only by 2030, per AP.
What We Don’t Know
- The financial value of the early works contract was not disclosed in the announcements covered by AP.
- The eventual full construction cost of the Temelín SMR has not been published. The Czech government has previously discussed using ČEZ as the lead vehicle for nuclear expansion, but the financing structure for SMR construction — whether merchant, regulated, or supported by contracts-for-difference — remains undefined in current reporting.
- The exact number of SMR units to be built at Temelín, beyond the partnership’s 3-gigawatt aspiration, has not been confirmed. At 470 MW per unit, three gigawatts of capacity would imply six to seven reactors over the long term, but ČEZ has not committed publicly to a unit count beyond the first.
- Approval pathways through Czech regulators, the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB) and European Commission state-aid review have not begun in earnest.
Why It Matters
The Czech Republic currently operates four Soviet-era VVER-440 units at Dukovany and two larger VVER-1000 units at Temelín, and Prague has been pursuing an aggressive expansion of nuclear capacity in parallel with phasing out coal. The SMR contract sits alongside a separate large-reactor procurement at Dukovany.
For Rolls-Royce SMR, the deal is commercially significant beyond the Czech market. After spending most of the past decade as a paper design with UK government backing, the company now has two binding national customers committed to building its 470-megawatt pressurised water reactor — making it the only Western SMR vendor with binding multi-country commitments in Europe. That fleet effect matters for the economics of factory-built nuclear: the Rolls-Royce SMR business case has always rested on serial production of standardised modules, a model that requires committed orders before any of the implied unit-cost reductions can be tested in practice.
For the broader European nuclear sector, the Temelín contract is a second concrete data point — after the UK programme — that small modular reactors are moving from policy ambition into procurement. Whether they can deliver on schedule and on budget remains the open question that no SMR vendor in the world has yet answered with an operating commercial unit on a Western grid.