Rolls-Royce SMR and Czech state utility CEZ Group signed an Early Works Contract in September 2026 that greenlights site-specific design, licensing and permitting for the Czech Republic's first small modular reactor at the Temelin nuclear site in South Bohemia.
What the contract enables
The Early Works Contract lets Rolls-Royce SMR begin preparatory infrastructure activities alongside consents and permitting work at Temelin, feeding into CEZ's plan to deploy up to 3 GW of factory-built nuclear across the country. Rolls-Royce SMR also opened its first Czech office in Prague to support the programme.
Building on a Czech nuclear pipeline
Temelin is the anchor of a wider CEZ-Rolls-Royce SMR pipeline that already includes preparatory work at the former coal sites of Tusimice and Detmarovice. CEZ, which took a 20% equity stake in Rolls-Royce SMR in October 2024, wants to bring the first SMR unit online in the mid-2030s next to the existing Temelin twin-unit VVER plant.
Central Europe becomes a factory-nuclear beachhead
The Temelin agreement, together with the UK Wylfa selection through Great British Energy - Nuclear, cements Rolls-Royce SMR as one of the most contracted Western SMR vendors, and hands Czech industrial suppliers such as Skoda JS and Doosan a serial-build backlog on the 470 MWe design.
Reporting based on coverage from Rolls-Royce SMR, World Nuclear News and CEZ Group.