Poland Pushes Through Nuclear Changes

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) --Polish politicians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of new laws that will speed up the development of the country's first nuclear power plant.

More than 400 members of the Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament, voted in favour of two amendments related to the construction and financial aspects of the proposed nuclear plant, with just a handful of 'no' votes and abstentions. Poland's almost unanimous support for the construction of a 3,000-megawatt (MW) plant at Zarnowiec in the north of the country, comes at a time when many European countries are reconsidering nuclear power following the recent disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March. For additional information, see March 13, 2011, article - Europe Faces Backlash After Explosions at Japanese Nuclear Plants.

The first amendment passed gives greater scope to the plant operator on how much money will be set aside to deal with waste management, while the second amendment eliminates a requirement for investors to prove that they have all of the project money in place from the start. Removing it will allow for the plant to be built in stages. An international tender for the project is expected to be released this July and the project will be overseen by Poland's power utility, the state-owned Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) (Warsaw, Poland), which also has plans to build another 3,000 MW facility after Zarnowiec.

Zarnowiec was the proposed location for a nuclear plant in the 1980s, but the project was cancelled after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in neighbouring Russia gave rise to increased anti-nuclear protests. A public referendum on the project in 1990 ended Poland's nuclear plans.

In August 2009, the Polish government revealed an energy roadmap showing how the country intended to start generating nuclear power before 2021. The goal of having the first plant completed by 2020 remains unchanged. At the time, the government claimed nuclear power would help reduce the country's reliance on coal-fired power plants, which then produced 93% of the nation's electricity. Nuclear power is also seen as vital to helping the country reduce its high CO2 emissions in order to comply with strict European Union targets of a 20% reduction by 2020. For additional information, see August 18, 2009, article - Poland Outlines Nuclear Roadmap.

At the end of 2009, PGE signed a memorandum of understanding with Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris, France) to conduct feasibility studies on setting up nuclear power reactors in Poland. The company agreed to research the use of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) from Areva SA (EPA:CEI) (Paris). For additional information, see November 25, 2009, article - Poland's PGE Signs Memorandum with EDF for Nuclear Cooperation.

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