In what is claimed to be a first for Europe, service provider Vodafone and Czech power generation conglomerate ČEZ Group have introduced what they say is Europe's first private 5G mobile phone network (MPN) at a nuclear power plant – albeit in pilot form – in Temelin, a municipality and village in the south of the Czech Republic.
The pilot network covers the outdoor area of the Temelin plant and selected areas of a production unit with the aim of testing how it works and the potential for future use of a private 5G network for operational requirements
Indeed, as part of the pilot, the new 5G connectivity will enable a transition away from walkie-talkie (two-way) radio in the plant, presumably towards normal mobile telephony. It will also pave the way for augmented reality glasses to support the work of technicians.
The standalone private mobile network can achieve a download speed of 1GB/s. It is built for the specific customer with infrastructure installed on site and fully independent of the public network, thus ensuring that all user data and infrastructure are securely managed within the power plant's own systems.
This is not the only Vodafone pilot private 5G network in the country in recent years; one was built for Škoda Auto in 2022. The network’s ultra-fast speeds and low latency facilitate automated car parking, as well as better communication between Škoda’s robots, machines and sensors.
As for the object of the pilot testing, Violeta Luca, CEO of Vodafone in the Czech Republic, explains: "The primary objective of our pilot testing is to ensure that the 5G mobile private network meets the strict security and operational standards required in the unique environment of a nuclear power plant.”
There is an alternative in case of failure, and the control system remains completely separate from the outside world. Bohdan Zronek, Director of the Nuclear Division of ČEZ, adds: "We are the first nuclear power plant in Europe to actually test a private 5G network, while other European operators work mostly with 4G."
The results of the pilot project, and subsequent evaluation conducted by ČEZ, will inform the deployments of 5G MPNs at further sites.
