Team Tusk may renegotiate the civil nuclear deal with the USA

Energy policy adviser to the Civic Coalition Grzegorz Onichimowski told Bloomberg that the American partners should take over at least 30 percent of the shares of the NPP project in Pomerania.

This project is implemented by Polish Nuclear Power Plants (PEJ) with America’s Bechtel and Westinghouse. The companies signed a project agreement in September 2023. The NPP will have three AP1000 reactors with the first one ready in 2023.

Bloomberg reminds that Andrzej Domański from the Civic Coalition, who is an expert on economic affairs and, according to Polish media, may become finance minister in Donald Tusk’s new government, told Radio Zet he supported further talks on the extent to which Americans should engage in the project when it comes to shares.

Onichimowski told Bloomberg that Poland needed two nuclear power plants, one built with the Americans and the other perhaps with another partner. The current team of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki from the Law and Justice party is in talks with Korea’s KHNP and France’s EDF, but has not made any decisions, even though initially they wanted to build all of the facilities with one partner to achieve the economies of scale. Bloomberg reports that Grzegorz Onichimowski proposed that the Americans acquire at least a 30 percent equity stake in PEJ. Despite the ongoing talks, the current government has not made any decision that could be added to the agreement on the construction of the facility.

Revising the project in Pomerania may impact its schedule. Another challenge emerged during a discussion with the participation of the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Mirosław Struk from the Civic Coalition, who promised to ask “uncomfortable questions” about this project, while one of his advisers suggested the need for a re-assessment of the impact on the environment.

On top of that, during a meeting with voters in Wrocław, the chairman of the Civic Coalition Donald Tusk was asked about the possibility of changing the Lubiatowo-Kopalino location. He replied that he could consider it, as long as the costs would not increase, there would be no delays in implementation or deterioration of relations with the Americans.

Bloomberg / Wojciech Jakóbik