Bridging agreement will allow ‘pace and schedule of activities to be maintained’
Polish nuclear project company Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) has signed an agreement with US-based Westinghouse Electric to begin joint activities on preparation of the project to build Poland’s first commercial nuclear power station.
The agreement – in the form of a bridging contract – covers work in 10 main areas including development of a detailed investment model, preparation of a safety assessment and quality control programme and identification of potential suppliers with an emphasis on Polish companies.
The contract assumes that Westinghouse will implement a total of over 100,000 man-hours for the project to build three AP1000 pressurised water reactor units in Pomerania in the north of the country.
The contract also enables the start of the first pre-design works before the “very time-consuming process of agreeing the executive contract is completed”, PEJ said.
This contract will allow “the pace and schedule of activities to be maintained”, the company said, adding the construction of nuclear power plants is “probably one of the most complex programmes, the scope of which is difficult to compare with anything that Poland has faced in recent decades”.
Under the contract, Westinghouse will carry out tasks including a preliminary assessment of solutions to ensure the physical security of the planned nuclear station. It will prepare investment requirements and rules for external financing of the project with an initial estimation of cost.
Construction Start Scheduled For 2026
The three AP1000 plants will be built at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in Pomerania.
The start of construction is earmarked for 2026 with the first unit scheduled to be online in 2033.
“The agreement signed today is another important step in the construction of a nuclear power plant in our country,” climate and environment minister Anna Moscwa said.
“Nuclear energy is the future of Poland, a way to ensure energy security and an important component of our mix.”
Under a 2020 nuclear programme, Poland has ambitious plans to build from 6,000 to 9,000 MW of installed nuclear with commercial operation of a first nuclear unit in a proposed set of six is planned for 2033, with the rest to follow throughout the 2030s and into the early 2040s.
Poland announced in November 2022 that it had chosen Westinghouse to supply and build its first nuclear power plants.
