Poland will handle the technology and financing of nuclear power plants. However, in a country where there is no atom yet, licensing capabilities are the real bottleneck – explains Michał Kurtyka, former Minister of Climate and Environment, President of COP24, and now a member of the Atlantic Council, in an interview with BiznesAlert.pl.
BiznesAlert.pl.: Why does the State Atomic Energy Agency cooperate with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission?
Michał Kurtyka: Today, the bottleneck of the nuclear project in Poland is not the resolve of companies or access to technology. We also know that the funding was secured by the US government, so it will not be a problem. However, in a country that does not yet have a nuclear power plant, the bottleneck is licensing capacity. It translates into specific years of work of the regulator, that is, the State Atomic Energy Agency. It must have the competences to ensure the technology is safe. The agency will be learning on the go from the processes that we are just starting, so it will take us longer than the Americans or Canadians.
How can we benefit from this cooperation?
Our regulator should be able to easily use the standards developed by colleagues from across the pond, in order to learn faster, and make sure licensing is not a bottleneck of our nuclear program. Cooperation with regulators from like-minded countries in the wider Western world should be developed in this area.
Does the number of reactors planned in Poland matter?
This is not a question of the number of reactors, but the licensing of the first plant. In the U.S. or Canada, this is a staple diet, because different technologies were licensed there. This will be our first time. Not only do we have to build the first reactor, we have to learn how to license it. It is worth reducing complexity and giving the regulator the opportunity to work closely with the Transatlantic partners. We need a legal framework to tap into the experience offered by regulators that we trust as a state. This process should be as painless and quick as possible.
Wojciech Jakóbik
Michał Kurtyka took part in the 9th Energy Congress under the patronage of BiznesAlert.pl.