Czechs to curb nuclear expansion plans-IndMin

PRAGUE Feb 8 (Reuters) - Czech nuclear expansion should be much more moderate than originally thought, including only an enlargement of one of the two existing nuclear plants and extending the life of the other, Industry and Trade Minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The original policy draft from the Industry Ministry said the country, an exporter of electricity to neighbouring Germany which announced a complete retreat from nuclear power after the March disaster in Japan, should boost reliance on nuclear to 80 percent of all energy needs by 2060.

But Martin Kuba, the industry and trade minister who took the office after a funds scandal prompted his predecessor Martin Kocourek to quit in November, told daily Hospodarske Noviny such a plan was unrealistic.

"Producing up to 80 percent of electricity in the Czech Republic from atomic (resources) is not realistic from the economic point of view," the paper quoted him as saying.

"What is realistic is completing next two blocks in Temelin and extending the life of the Dukovany (nuclear plant) until 2035."

CEZ, central Europe's largest company by market value and its biggest utility, aims to build two new units at the 2,000 megawatt plant in Temelin, a village near the Austrian border.

Bidders include Toshiba Corp unit Westinghouse is bidding for the project along with France's Areva and an alliance of Russia's Atomstroyexport and Czech company Skoda JS. The government plans to choose the winning bid in 2013.

The paper said the two new Temelin blocks will increase the share of nuclear power to 50 percent of overall production from about a third now as it will lead to closure of some coal-fired plants. (Reporting by Jana Mlcochova; editing by James Jukwey)