The contract to build two new reactor blocks at the Temelín nuclear power plant promises to be the largest tender in Czech history and one of the largest civil engineering projects in the EU in the coming years. With the tender documentation due to be issued on Oct. 31, the three bidders are stepping up their PR campaigns; earlier this week we spoke with Rosatom, and now with Areva.

The head of Russian state nuclear enterprise Rosatom, Sergei Kirienko, put the onus on the positive in Prague on Monday as it positions itself to build two new reactors at Czech nuclear plant Temelín. If the tender is decided primarily according to technological and economic criteria then the consortium headed by Rosatom has the best credentials to win, said the former Russian prime minister, but if its on geopolitical grounds, then it will lose.

Czechs with a pro-nuclear power stance have welcomed news that the number two at the Czech nuclear safety watchdog, the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB), Petr Krs, has been given a key role in EU stress tests of atomic plants (with a Frenchman in the top spot). But environmentalists and green groups just see it as confirmation that the evaluation process has been rigged in advance.

Speaking at the conference Energetické Třebíčsko 2011 on Wednesday, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Martin Kocourek (Civic Democrats, ODS), announced that the government is counting on extending the lifespan of the Czech Republic’s oldest nuclear power plant Dukovany, and building a fifth reactor block at the country’s other nuclear plant, Temelín, after 2020.