Czech utility ČEZ will start talks with bidders for a multi-billion dollar project to build a new unit at its Dukovany nuclear power station sooner than expected, a company official said on Tuesday (21 February).

Clarification discussions will begin this week, rather than in April, with France's EDF, South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and US group Westinghouse Electric, ČEZ board member Tomas Pleskac said on social media.

“We want to give them more time to work up quality final offers,” he said.

ČEZ expects final bids around the middle of September, which could be marginally earlier than an end-September date revealed when ČEZ announced bidders in November last year.