Polish Nuclear Power Plants (PEJ) announced that a project agreement for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Poland should appear in the coming days. The company emphasizes that it analyzed the history of investments in this sector and drew conclusions from them, which will help it avoid mistakes in the Polish project.
During the conference „Dialogue on the Economy 2023”, the Director of Business Development Michał Wierzchowski spoke about challenges and threats to the development of Polish Nuclear Power Plants (PEJ) on the eve of the start of construction of the first nuclear power plant in Poland. He pointed out that one of the basic tasks of the company is to ensure the energy security of the country. According to him, the key to the investment such as a nuclear power plant, is to provide a support system and a financial model agreed with both the government and the European Commission. „This will make electricity cheaper for the end user,” he said.
Wierzchowski pointed out that the key element of building an atom in Poland is planning and the fact that risks should be eliminated already at the project stage. „The point is to prepare the investment in such a way as to avoid any mistakes. We looked at all the investments in nuclear power in the last 30 years and the main problem was infinite design. Serious money and construction work had already begun, but it turned out that the project was not ready. And every change in the project has huge consequences both in terms of cost and timing. We will avoid these mistakes, but of course, we realize that we will not avoid all of them,” he said.
To this end, PEJ is working with Westinghouse and Southern Nuclear, the operator of the Vogtle power plant in Georgia. Moreover, the company will sign a project agreement with Bechtel „within days”, which will allow risk mitigation, i.e. reducing the risk of error through proper preparation. Director Wierzchowski hopes that the agreement will be signed this week. However, the exact date depends on obtaining corporate approvals and cannot be specified at this time.
The investment in Poland is not the first one on the market, as it will be the eleventh AP1000 reactor to be built in the world. This, according to the director of PEJ, allows Poles to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. „The sooner nuclear power is in the system, the cheaper energy and more opportunities the industry will gain,” concluded Michał Wierzchowski.
Wojciech Jakóbik / Marcin Karwowski
