Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 44 2022

AsiaElec NUCLEAR AsiaElec

Poland says nuclear

power plant will cost

$20bn

SOUTH KOREA THE US company Westinghouse Electric will capacity. Poland wants construction to start in
build Poland’s first nuclear power plant for 2026 and finish seven years later.
an estimated $20bn, Prime Minister Mateusz Key permitting steps are still ahead of the pro-
Morawiecki said on November 2. ject, including the all-important environmental
The Polish government officially confirmed permit, which will point to the exact location of
that Westinghouse will build the plant in the the plant.
seaside municipality of Choczewo, northwest of Nuclear power is the all-important plank in
Gdansk. Poland’s plan to reduce the currently dominant
“The cost will be around $20bn so some- share of coal and lignite in electricity generation.
where between PLN90 and PLN100 billion,” Due to its reliance on dirty fossil fuels, Poland’s
Morawiecki told a news conference. electricity grid is one of the most carbon-inten-
The PM did not offer details on the financial sive in Europe.
engineering of the project. For Westinghouse, the Polish venture is not
“There are several ways in which the project its first in the region. In May, the company signed
can be financed. We have secured financing for a memorandum of understanding with the state-
now while most financing will be needed in later owned Bulgarian Energy Holding on building a
stages,” Morawiecki said. long-duration energy storage facility in Bulgaria.
Poland will probably want the US side to In April, it signed memoranda of under-
get involved with an equity stake in the project, standing with three Slovenian companies that
experts have long said. will cover cooperation on potential AP1000
Uranium fuel supplier Cameco and renew- nuclear power plant projects across Central and
able energy investor Brookfield Renewable Eastern Europe.
Partners recently acquired Westinghouse in In 2021, Westinghouse signed a nine-year
$7.9bn deal including debt, citing renewed agreement for the modernisation of control and
interest in nuclear energy, Reuters reported in management systems at the Temelin nuclear
mid-October. power plant. Czechia also picked Westinghouse
Poland alone could be responsible for an – along with France’s Framatom – to supply fuel
important part of the nuclear power revival, as it to Temelin.
seeks to build three plants, two reactors each, in A contract to build at least one reactor from
three separate locations in Poland, Morawiecki scratch is, however, the biggest regional suc-
said. cess for Westinghouse, which also remains
That is a change from the country’s nuclear very much in the game to build several more
power development programme, which still in Poland, in line with Warsaw’s nuclear power
assumes two plants, two or three reactors each, strategy.
in two locations. Morawiecki did not rule out talks with either
Poland is also keen to support a business-led KHNP (on top of its involvement with ZE PAK
effort to build still another power plant. Listed and PGE) or France’s EDF, which have also
energy companies ZE PAK and PGE signed a let- offered to spearhead the government nuclear
ter of intent with South Korea’s KHNP on Octo- power development programme.
ber 31 concerning a nuclear power plant to be If executed as planned - which is possible,
built on the site of a ZE PAK lignite-fired facility given nuclear power projects are habitually run-
in central Poland. ning in schedule and cost overruns - nuclear
Westinghouse technology relies on the com- power’s share in Poland’s energy mix could be as
pany’s AP1000 pressurised water reactor, a pro- high as 30%, Climate and Environment Minister
ject commissioned in 2005. Anna Moskwa told the same press conference.™
The power plant will be 3,750 MW in

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