Move confirms safety standards for new-build on Baltic coast
Poland’s nuclear regulator PAA has issued a “general opinion” on a safety analysis submitted by nuclear project company Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) for its first nuclear power station in the northern Pomerania province.
PEJ said the opinion is a step forward to obtaining all administrative approvals required by law for the First nuclear power station which will have three AP1000 pressurised water reactor (PWR) units.
The general opinion application was submitted to PAA in September 2022 and the regulator has managed to meet a nine-month deadline for providing a reply. According to the PAA, the general opinion procedure is optional and is designed to increase the efficiency of the actual licensing process.
Advantages for applicants include identification of legal and technical barriers to a given technology, confirmation that draft documentation will meet actual licensing expectations, and familiarisation of the regulator with a proposed technology with the aim of better preparing for its assessment.
PAA said in a statement that the presented scope of planned verifications of safety analyses for the nuclear station project is correct. The regulator said an independent verification of safety has properly identified the main components of a “deterministic and probabilistic” safety analysis for a nuclear power facility.
PAA also said PEJ’s approach was acceptable and based on a qualitative analysis consistent with the methodology standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In November 2022, Warsaw said it had chosen US-based Westinghouse Electric to supply its AP1000 reactor technology for the country’s first three-unit nuclear power station at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site near the Baltic coast in Pomerania.
In April 2023, PEJ submitted an application to the country’s ministry of climate and the environment for a “decision in principle” on the project. The step followed the introduction of an updated nuclear energy law which came into force earlier in April and aimed to formally confirm that the new-build investment will be in line with the public interest and Warsaw’s energy policy, including security of energy supply.
PEJ said the decision in principle will pave the way for further licensing milestones like a site permit and construction permit.
Nuclear new-build plans are a central part of Poland’s drive to fundamentally realign its energy sector by 2040. The first AP1000 unit, likely near the villages of Lubiatowo and Kopalino in Pomerania, is expected online in 2033 while others are to follow into the 2040s.
