Nuclear power plant Dukovany

The first reactor block started opera­ting on the 4th of May, 1985, the last, fourth block operates since the 20th of July, 1987. Close to the power plant, the Dalešice reservoir was built on the river Jihlava, with a pumped-sto­rage hydro power plant with the output of 450  MW. The service reservoir of the hydroelectric plant is utilised by the nuclear plant as its water supply.

Each year, it supplies the power-supply distribution network with 17 percent of all electricity produced in the Czech Republic. Close attention is paid to the safety of the facility, which is also supervised by the State Office for Nuclear Safety, as well as by relevant international bodies.

The plant is fueled by uranium dioxide, with the uranium enriched by a fissile isotope 235. In the reactor, the fuel has the form of 312 fuel elements, with each element consisting of 126 gas-tight rods. Apart from that, the reactor is fitted with 37 regulatory cassettes. Since 1997, the improved parameters of the fuel permit running four-year cycles instead of the previous three-year ones.

The heat produced in the active zone of the reactor by the uranium core fission is then channeled away by cooling demineralised water, which also serves as a neutron moderator. Addition of boric acid helps to regulate the reactor output.

Circulation of the pressurised cooling water in the primary reactor circuit is provided by six independent cooling loops, fitted with pumps and steam generators. In the steam generators, the water from the primary reactor circuit transfers its heat into the secondary cooling circuit. The secondary circuit is closed and filled with de­mineralised water. In the steam generators, the water from the second cooling circuit transfers into steam for fueling the turbines. Each reactor has two turbines, with the speed of 3000 RPM. The total number of turbines in the power plant is therefore eight. Each turbine is fixed to a 220  MW generator of electricity, generating the voltage of 15,75 kV.

20 years of the planned lifespan of the power plant remain. During this time, ongoing modernisation is planned. However, thanks to the high quality of the main construction elements of the plant, extending its lifespan by ten years to the total operation duration of 40 years is being considered already.

The facilities of the power plant include a storage facility for low and medium active radioactive waste. Its construction was finished in 1995 and after a trial period, it is utilised as a permanent dry repository of the radio­active waste. However, it would not suffice for the storage of all the radioactive waste produced by the plant during its operation, so in 2004, the enlargement of the repository had begun. The new hall of the dry repository will pass a trial test period at the end of 2005. Afterwards, the radioactive waste will be stored here for the maximum of 50 years. If it won’t be utilised as a valuable source of raw material or if the industrial reprocession procedure of the radioactive waste will not be applied, it will be then safely deposited into a safe-rock formation repository.

Eight tall cooling towers of the Dukovany nuclear plant are an unmistakable landmark of this hilly landscape, strewn with twisting rivers and streams.

Dukovany

The town has a small castle in the baroque-classicist style, decorated by fresco paintings by J. Winterhalter, built at the end of 18th century. It also has a roman church of Saint Wenceslaus.

Ivančice

A town famous for its past connected with Jednota Bratrská, located at the meeting point of three rivers - Oslava, Jihlava and Rokytná. It is documented back to 1221. Here, the bishop of Jednota Jan Blahoslav founded a printing house in 1564, and a secondary school in 1575. The castle is a renaissance makeover of the original fortress and it has a museum. The town has a number of gothic and renaissance buildings, for example the remains of protestant chapel, a parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, first built in gothic style and later reconstructed in the renaissance and baroque styles, and also a small Jewish quarter with a cemetery. Řeznovice, today a district of Ivančice, are the location of one of our most interesting monuments from the roman era - the church of Saint Peter and Paul, built in 12th century.

Templštejn

Romantic souls will like the ruins of this castle located in a bend of Jihlava river, eastwards from Dukovany. It was founded by the ­templars at the end of 13th century and it was owned by the earls of Lipá for a long time. However, in the first half of 16th century, it was destroyed by fire.

Rouchovany

A settlement located in the southeastern direction from Dukovany was first mentioned in sources dating back to 1218, and in 1353, it received the status of a town. It has a roman-gothic church from 13th century with a massive tower, built around the turn of 16th and 17th century.

Rabštejn

Not far away from the power plant, on a steep point above the Mohelno reservoir, remains of a small fortress from 1358 are preserved. It was torn down in 1440 at the order of the Moravian Assembly, since during the Hussite wars, it became a residence of bandits.

Walk From Rabštejn, past Templštejn, and all the way to Hrubšice, you may follow the red tourist path which will take you along the Jihlava river through the natural reserve of Střední Pojihlaví. The path passes through the Velká skála reserve, where the river had cut a valley as much as 140 meters deep. Here, you may find original pine and oak woods.

Hydro power plant Mohelno

The run-off-river hydro power plant Mohelno serves mainly as a reservoir of cooling water for the Dukovany power plant, and it also dilutes its waste water. At the same time, it forms a part of the Dalešice water work.

The power plant was built on the Jih­lava river simultaneously with the pumping-storage power plant in Dalešice. It operates since 1971-1977. Its reservoir with the capacity of 17,1 millions of cubic meters serves as a service reservoir for Dalešice and also as the lower reservoir for pumping. The dam of the Mohelno power plant was built of solid concrete with the relevant hydro machinery – with an overflow spillway and bottom flood-discharge outflow. The dam creates a 7 kilometers long ­artificial lake on the Jihlava river. The plant itself is built into the body of the dam, it is fully automated and controlled from the Dalešice hydroelectric plant. It has two aggregates of Kaplan and Francis turbines with the output of 1,2 MW and 0,6 MW. The primary hydroenergetic potential of the Mohelno power plant lies in the production of environmentally safe electricity.

Close surroundings of the Mohelno reservoir are attractive for the variety of natural rarities. The veld slopes around Jihlava and Oslava invite for leisurely, peaceful walks.
Mohelno The town is dominated by the church of All Saints, originally built in 13th century, which has a tower from the end of 16th century. The town hall was built in 1546 in renaissance style. The town has an extensive underground network of cellars, used by the locals as a refuge during the Hussite wars.

The serpentine vault of Mohelno Our best-known vault has been protected since 1933. Weathe­ring serpentine releases large amounts of magnesium into soil, and thus the rocks with higher content of serpentine only permit growth of certain specimens of plants. Nowhere else in our country you could find the Northolaena maranthae. Incredible 285 species of spiders were recorded here. The vault is also known by the occurence of the brown variety of Moldavite.

Moravský Krumlov

The town lies on a cone-shaped point in the bend of Rokytná river. In 1260, it received the status of town. During the reign of Charles IV., an augustinian monastery and a church of Saint Bartholomew were founded here. Remains of protective walls and bastions from 14th and 15th century were also preserved. Between 1557 and 1562, the gothic fortress was transformed into a re­naissance castle with several storeys of arcades in the castle court. It counts among the gems of renaissance architecture north of the Alps.

Babylon

The Zelený hill (491  m) close to the Kramolín village is crowned with an observation tower called Babylon. It is the second oldest observation tower preserved in Bohemia. It was built in 1831 by an order of lord Haugwitz as a tool of measuring the so-called fixed land register. In good weather, you may spot the summits of the Alps or the Bílé Karpaty mountains.

Walk Blue tourist path will take you from Mohelno to the fork of Oslava and Chvoj­nice, located about 5 kilometers from Mohelno. Beautiful, sharply-cut valley with rare vegetation is complemented by the ruins of two small castles, Kraví hora and Levnov. The castles were destroyed in the mid–15th century due to the ever-threatening presence of bandits in the area.

Power plant Dalešice

The power plant in Dalešice has an output of 450  MW and its full-capacity startup speed is 30 seconds. Thus, it is irreplacable for the regulation of the performance of the national power-supply system, and it functions as a prompt backup force in case of an accident. To fulfill this role, the plant is fully automated and it is operated directly either from the central production control of the ČEZ company, or from the central control of the distribution network operator ČEPS.

The water work Dalešice was built in connection with the construction of the nearby nuclear power plant in Du­kovany. The water work consists of the Dalešice reservoir with the capacity of 127 millions of cubic meters of water, of the service reservoir Mohelno, of the pumped-storage hydro power plant Dalešice and of the run-off-river hydro power plant Mohelno.

The Dalešice power plant was built between 1970 and 1978. The dam was built by rockfill technology with clay sealing and it is 100 meters high. It is fitted with hydro-technical machinery for flood handling and for the reservoir draining. The power plant and the control room is located at the foot of the dam. The inflow and outflow tubes are fitted with stop gates, barrier gates and with the necessary elevating technology.

The pumped-storage hydro power plant is fitted with four generator units with Francis turbines for the maximum gradient of 90 meters. The synchronic generators with the voltage of 13,8 kV are utilised both for power production and as a driving power of the turbines during the pumping mode. The generator voltage is transformed into the output voltage of 420 kV in block transformers.

The Dalešice reservoir is, among other things, used in leisure activities. However, its main purpose is to supply water to the Dukovany nuclear power plant, it creates the gradient and the storage capacity of water necessary for the operation of the pumped-storage hydro power plant Dalešice, and it regulates the flow of the Jihlava river bellow the reservoir. It lowers the flood-highs on the lower Jihlava, it cuts the sediment settlings of the impurities from the upper Jihlava and it regulates the sewage waters from the nuclear plant. Its positive impact on the water quality is shown also by the reappearance of crabs and trout bellow the Mohelno service reservoir.
An information center for public is located on premises of the power plant. 

The large reservoir of Dalešice mostly attracts fishermen, but even walkers may find their perfect destination in its surroundings, for example the ruins of four fortresses, Kozlov, Holoubek, Kokštejn and Čalonice.

Dalešice

First sources mention the settlement in 12th century. In 14th century, a monastery for repentant women belonging to the order of Saint Mary Magdalene, the Magdalenites, was built. The center of the town is dominated by the church of Saint Peter and Paul built in 12th century and by a building of the former monastery, rebuilt by the Dauns into a castle during the second quarter of 18th century. The local brewery is well known from J. Menzel’s film „Postřižiny“. Beer brewing, terminated in 1977, started again in 1999, and a museum of beer brewing was opened on its premises.

Třebíč

The Přemyslids of Moravia­ founded a benedictine monastery here in 1101. Around it, a new settlement evolved, later extending into a town. The well-preserved city complex is protected by UNESCO as an item of cultural heritage. The oldest­ bulding in Třebíč is the basilica of Saint Procopius, a beautiful example of late roman and early gothic architecture with splendid roman portal. Very well known is also the preserved complex of Jewish quarter with two synagogues, a town hall and a cemetery. The cemetery counts among the largest Jewish cemeteries in Bohemia. It has over 3000 tombstones, the oldest one from 1625.

Náměšť nad Oslavou

The renaissance castle proudly rising over the Oslava river dates back to 1234. Its owners, the Meziříčtí of Lomnice, were supporters of Jednota Bratrská (one branch of the Czech protestant church). They have built a printing house in the castle and in 1533, the Gramatika česká (Czech Grammar) was printed here. Czech was thus one of the first languages of Europe with a handbook of this sort. The visitors will also be attracted by the baroque bridge decorated with statues of saints stretching over the Oslava river, built in 1737.

Walk From Náměšť, we may reach the nearby Kralice nad Oslavou via great alleys of lime trees, chestnut and maple trees.This small town has been the center of Jednota Bratrská which printed over 76 prints here between 1578-1620. Among those was the Bible of Kralice, our best-known translation of this book of the books.

CZECH ARTICLE: Údolím řeky Jihlavy: jaderná elektrárna Dukovany a přehradní nádrže Mohelno a Dalešice

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