16 Aug (NucNet): A long-pending update of Poland’s nuclear power programme is expected to be approved by the Polish cabinet by the end of 2018, according to comments by Tadeusz Skobel, a deputy energy minister.
In May 2018, a Polish energy ministry official said the ministry had adopted the updated programme and had forwarded it to the cabinet for finalisation.
Mr Skobel was quoted by local media as saying a decision to begin a public tendering process to choose the provider of the nuclear technology will only be taken once the government has chosen the financing model for construction and operation of the proposed nuclear station.
Mr Skobel said environmental and seismic surveys are being carried out at two locations: near the neighbouring villages of Lubiatowo and Kopalino in the municipality of Choczewo, and the village of Żarnowiec in the municipality of Krokowa. Both locations are in northern Pomerania, west of the city of Gdansk.
The work is being carried out by PGE EJ1 (Polska Grupa Energetyczna Energia Jądrowa 1), the state-owned entity in charge of preparing and developing Poland’s first nuclear power project, and is expected to be complete by 2019, Mr Skobel said.
Poland began a national nuclear power programme in 2014, which included the construction of up to 6 GW of capacity by 2035.
Shortly after taking over at the end of 2015, Poland’s current government announced it would update the programme, but kept pushing back the deadline over uncertainties related to the project’s financing model.
