CEZ speaks fluent Russian

ČEZ is expected to announce that it is awarding a multibillion- crown contract to Tvel of Russia to supply nuclear fuel to Temelín after 2009. This is a loss for Westinghouse, the current supplier, and it makes it all the more unlikely that the CR will be able to sell ČEZ - or at least the nuclear side - to anyone other than the Russians. A Gazprom company, Škoda JS, is already a key nuclear supplier to ČEZ. The Tvel deal, coming just two weeks before the Czech elections, is a boost to the reinvigorated Russian nuclear program and might have been one of the secret items on Vladimir Putin's agenda when he visited Prague in March. ODS Chair Mirek Topolánek complained in Euro this week that the Green Party's nuclear stance is making ČEZ easy prey for the Russians, but Martin Roman and his team at ČEZ are clearly able to learn to speak fluent Russian without the Greens' help. [Czech Republic Škoda Jaderné strojírenství nuclear energy]