Poland signs agreement on planned second nuclear plant

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s energy ministry has signed an agreement with two state-owned companies, Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) and Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), setting out responsibilities for preparing for the construction of Poland’s planned second nuclear power plant.

“This is an investment in our security, sovereignty and economic development,” declared energy minister Miłosz Motyka. “Having our own stable energy sources strengthens Poland’s resilience to crises and reduces dependence on external suppliers.”

Under the agreement, PEJ, which is also responsible for developing a first nuclear project that is already underway on Poland’s northern Baltic Sea coast, will act as the investor and coordinate the project.

PGE, the country’s largest power producer, will prepare preliminary feasibility studies and analyse potential locations for the plant.

However, a decision on selecting an international partner for the project is not expected to be made until next year. The potential candidates include US company Westinghouse, which is involved in the first nuclear power plant, France’s EDF, and Canada’s AtkinsRéalis.

The second plant was initially envisaged as a joint project with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a South Korean company, under a letter of intent signed in 2022 under Poland’s former government. However, the partnership was never formalised and fell through last year.

Once the new partner has been selected, it will work with PGE to analyse potential sites. The current preferred locations are Bełchatów – home to the largest coal-fired power station in Europe, owned by PGE – and Konin, both in central Poland, because of their existing energy infrastructure and experience in electricity generation.

According to the Polish government’s nuclear strategy – which was last month updated for the first time since 2020 – construction of the second plant is scheduled to begin in 2032, with its first reactor potentially entering service in 2040. That would be one year behind the previously planned schedule.

Meanwhile, Poland plans to begin construction of its first nuclear power station in 2028, with the plant beginning operation in 2036, three years later than previously planned. Together, the two plants are expected to have a combined capacity of up to 9 gigawatts.

The move is part of Poland’s transition away from coal – which still generates around half of electricity, by far the highest proportion in the European Union – and towards cleaner sources of energy, particularly nuclear and renewables.

Under a national energy and climate plan approved in June, Poland aims by 2040 for coal to account for only 0-5% of the energy mix. Around 15-16% will come from nuclear, 7-8% from gas, with most of the rest from renewables: onshore wind (22-27%), offshore wind (18-21%) and solar (14-18%).

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Markus Distelrath / Pexel

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.