Poland is very close to selecting a foreign partner to help build the country’s first nuclear power plant (NPP), a deputy prime minister has said after talks in Washington.
Jacek Sasin, who is also Poland’s minister for state assets, met on Sunday with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Following the talks, he told reporters that they were very close to choosing a foreign partner for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Poland as part of a government programme.
He said that there was a “very good chance” that Westinghouse, the American supplier of nuclear products and technologies, would provide the technology for the first three nuclear reactors in Poland.
“I think we are closer rather than farther to making such a decision,” Sasin said.
He added that Sunday’s talks were held as a matter of urgency since they didn’t have time anymore.
“The energy crisis that is affecting us, powerful, probably the greatest ever, means that we must quickly make decisions on building our energy security based on completely new energy sources,” said Sasin.
Poland’s Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa, who also took part in the talks in Washington, said the Polish government would choose a contractor for the country’s first NPP by the end of this year.
Under the Polish government’s energy strategy, Poland plans to construct six nuclear power units. The first reactor should start working in 2033, generating some 1-1.6 GW of power. Subsequent reactors would be constructed every two to three years.
Poland has already signed an inter-governmental agreement with the US under which, in mid-September, Westinghouse offered to build six large-scale reactors based on American technology, in addition to proposing cooperation on civil nuclear energy.
Poland has also received offers for the construction of nuclear power plants from France’s EDF and South Korea’s KHNP.