ŠKODA JS Was Founded Exactly 70 Years Ago

Twenty-one complete VVER-440/V-213 reactors and three VVER-1000/V-320 reactors manufactured for domestic and foreign nuclear power plants. More than 500 containers designed for the transport and storage of nuclear fuel, including 420 for spent nuclear fuel. More than 2,000 reactor control rod drives and thousands of other components and systems for the nuclear power industry, as well as oversized equipment for sectors such as the petrochemical industry.

This is, in brief, the 70year track record of ŠKODA JS, a leading European nuclear engineering company and part of the ČEZ Group. Throughout its history, the company has supplied engineering, equipment, and services for nuclear power plants, research reactors, and spent nuclear fuel storage facilities in Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, France, Germany, the USA, Austria, Finland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, China, Armenia, and many other countries.

ŠKODA JS, today’s Czech industry leader, commemorates the 70th anniversary of its foundation in 2026 (exactly on May 18, 1956). Currently, employees at the company’s two production sites in Pilsen are working on projects for newly built British nuclear power plants (internal reactor components for Hinkley Point C and subsequently Sizewell C), new VVER-440 reactor drives for the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant, and additional spent fuel containers for both Dukovany and Temelín Nuclear Power Plants. The company’s Slovak division is involved in commissioning Unit 4 of the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant, while Unit 3 was handed over for trial operation already in 2023. The company is also preparing to expand its capacities for the production and supply of equipment for small modular reactors (SMRs) and aims to succeed in the construction of new nuclear units at Dukovany.

„ŠKODA was established 70 years ago because of the then Czechoslovak nuclear power industry, and thanks to the work of our predecessors it grew into a key company in its construction and operation. I am pleased that today’s ŠKODA JS within the ČEZ Group is strengthening its position as the Czech industry leader, for example through cooperation with Rolls-Royce on SMRs. The company is full of young people with enthusiasm and energy, and its reach has long extended beyond the borders of the Czech Republic and Slovakia,“ said Ing. Karel Bednář, PhD, Chairman of the Board and CEO of ŠKODA JS a.s., on the occasion of the company anniversary.

The Pilsen-based company will commemorate this year’s anniversary during several upcoming events. In June (12–13), it will organize open days for pupils and students (Friday, June 12), followed on Saturday, June 13, by an event for employees and their families combined with a cultural program. The company will also participate in the Nuclear Days conference organized by the University of West Bohemia in September. At the end of September, ŠKODA JS will invite its business partners and customers to a gala evening in the historic Měšťanská beseda building in Pilsen, combined with the screening of a film from the Finále festival. In cooperation with the publishing house Starý most, ŠKODA JS has also prepared a historical publication entitled “70 Years Powered by Nuclear Engineering”, authored by its long-time employee Josef Říha. In addition to employees, who will receive the publication as a gift, it will also be available to the public in bookstores from autumn onward. 

Selected Facts from the 70-Year History of ŠKODA JS

On May 18,1956, preparatory work began for the construction of the A1 nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice, Slovakia. The history of today’s ŠKODA JS also dates back to this year. The company currently employs 1,100 highly qualified experts — both engineers and skilled workers. At that time, a team of designers led by Josef Hauer was established at Škoda in Pilsen, forming the foundation of the company’s future nuclear program. Škoda was tasked with manufacturing the reactor, supplying fuel handling systems, and acting as the general contractor for the technological part of the project. However, the road to commissioning the first nuclear power plant on the territory of former Czechoslovakia was still long. Jaslovské Bohunice was commissioned in 1972.

An interesting chapter of history is also connected with one of ŠKODA JS’s current production sites and headquarters in the Bolevec district of Pilsen. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the management of the then Škoda Works searched for premises near Pilsen that could serve as a testing range for the arms program of what was then the largest arms manufacturer in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Eventually, a site called Na Orlíku near Třemošná was selected. In 1901, a tunnel shooting range was put into operation there.

During World War I, an ammunition factory employing more than two thousand people was built at the site. After a catastrophic explosion in May 1917, the area again served only as a shooting range. Its importance increased during the Protectorate period, when Škoda manufactured weapons for the German army. In the 1950s, with the onset of the Cold War, arms production was moved from western to eastern parts of the country. By 1956, the shooting range near Pilsen had been abandoned. At that moment, a new chapter in what would soon become a successful industrial sector associated with nuclear power was beginning.  

From 1956 to 1993, the nuclear power segment operated under various names within the organizational structure of the same owner, the Pilsen-based Škoda company. During this period, production for the A1 nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice began in 1964. In 1974, manufacturing of components for the primary circuit of VVER nuclear power plants started. In 1979, production commenced in the new Reactor Hall, today the second production site of ŠKODA JS, expanded in 2025 to include the adjacent former hardening shop. In 1981, supplies were delivered to the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in Hungary. Between 1985 and 1987, the four units of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant were commissioned, and between 1991 and 1993, two reactors were delivered for the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant.

Following the privatization of Škoda Pilsen in 1993, the then company ŠKODA JADERNÉ STROJÍRENSTVÍ, Plzeň, s.r.o. became part of the Škoda industrial group. Since 1999, the company has operated under its current name, ŠKODA JS a.s. In 2004, the then parent company Škoda Holding sold ŠKODA JS to the Russian engineering group Power Machines B.V. In 2007, the company was acquired by the Russian engineering group OMZ.

After the Russian annexation of Crimea, ŠKODA JS had to overcome a difficult period, although it continued to achieve good economic results. Due to its Russian ownership, the company was placed on sanctions lists, which disadvantaged it in standard business competition. The situation became even more complicated following the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2022.

It was therefore crucial that the complex ownership transfer transaction was completed quickly. As a result, since autumn 2022 ŠKODA JS has been part of the ČEZ Group, where it has continued its long-standing cooperation with the Czech nuclear power industry.

Karel Samec, Press Spokesperson
karel.samec@skoda-js.cz   
+420 603 200 076