Study completed for first nuclear station in Poland

US-based Westinghouse and Bechtel have completed a front-end engineering and design (Feed) study for the construction of nuclear power plants in Poland, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported.

SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons

PAP said the Feed study is to be part of the US offer to the Polish government to build Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants in the eastern European country. The plants would be Poland’s first commercial nuclear units as Warsaw moves away from coal-fired energy while maintaining its energy independence.

According to PAP, the Feed study includes an outline plan for the construction of three AP1000 plants and ancillary facilities at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in northern Poland.

In April, Bechtel signed memoranda of understanding with 12 companies in Poland for the potential development of nuclear power plants.

At the time, Bechtel and Westinghouse said they would jointly prepare a front-end engineering design for a nuclear station equipped with three Westinghouse AP1000 units on the Baltic Sea coast.

In June, Bechtel announced a memorandum of understanding with Toshiba America Energy Systems and Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions to pursue the nuclear power project in Poland.

Toshiba joined a group of US and Polish companies organising a team led by Bechtel and Westinghouse. Bechtel said Toshiba has supplied steam turbines, generators, and services to power plants of all types.

The Feed study includes a timetable for construction, an assessment of project risks and risk management, and analysis of the impact of nuclear power plants on the Polish economy, PAP said.

First Unit Planned For 2033

Poland is planning the construction of six nuclear power units with a capacity of up to 9 GW. Its energy policy to 2040 assumes that the first unit with a capacity of about 1-1.6 GW will be commissioned in 2033. Subsequent units will be commissioned every two to three years.

There are three companies in the running for the project: Westinghouse, France’s state-owned power company EDF and South Korea’s Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power.

In October 2021, EDF submitted a non-binding preliminary offer to the Polish government for the provision of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for four to six EPR reactors.

In April, KHNP submitted a non-binding offer for six plants using its APR-1400 reactor technology.

The Polish government expects to make a final decision on the project by the end of the year.

According to earlier reports, Westinghouse is expected to submit an offer for its AP1000 technology by the end of August.

Energy independence is essential for the geopolitics of any country, even more so at a time when the next disputes will be in this field. As a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine, those countries subjected to Russian energy resources have been revealed. Poland seeks to be increasingly sovereign, creating new projects that allow it to achieve energy independence protecting the national interest.

This should be an example for the entire West.

Author:

Candela Sol Silva is an student of energy engineering in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a columnist of the right-wing conservative media “La Derecha Diario” (www.derechadiario.com.ar) and has articles about different topics such as economics, energy projects, international politics analysis and political interviews.

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