Halfway through the first week of the practicum came one of the highlights of the whole trip: a visit to Temelin Nuclear Power Plant!
Temelin is one of two nuclear power plants that provide roughly a quarter of the Czech Republic's energy for its population of ~10 million. It consists of two VVER-1000 reactors that produce a total of 2000MeW; the other plant is Dukovany, which has four older, VVER-440 reactors. Although the reactor designs are Russian, the Czech Republic is proud of the fact that 95% of the build components were produced by then-Czechoslovakia.
Interesting tidbit: of the 1200 direct employees of Temelin NPP, only 300 are women. There is a gender imbalance in this field the world over, but Czech Republic's efforts to further diversify their workforce are hampered by the fact that only about 5% of nuclear physics and engineering graduates in the country are women. Meanwhile, our group from MIIS was 99% female - we are the future, ladies!
According to the Kyoto Protocol, about 80% of the Czech Republic's emissions should be from nuclear or low-carbon products in the coming years. That's an ambitious goal - but Czech government and society is extra motivated to accomplish it, because doing so would mean reducing their energy dependence on Germany. Interestingly, neighboring Austria is staunchly anti-nuclear in their national policy - yet they have a standing agreement with Czech Republic to exchange regular information on the operation of NPPs and their production.