Poland’s state-run power group Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has completed the first stage of analysis into the potential construction of the country’s second commercial nuclear power station on a coal site near the city of Belchatow in central Poland, according to the group’s president Dariusz Marzec.

Marzec said in a social media post that preliminary work carried out by “leading Polish research institutes” reviewed archival geological and environmental data.

He said the findings suggest the site may meet the criteria for new nuclear deployment, paving the way for more detailed field studies.

The Belchatow site is Europe’s largest lignite, or brown coal-fired power station. It is owned and operated by PGE GiEK Oddzial Elektrownia Belchatow, a subsidiary of PGE.