Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Tuesday that Brussels had formally agreed to Poland’s request to support the project with public funds.
He said the first PLN 4 billion (around EUR 950 million, USD 1.1 billion) in financing would be released this month and added that the government had secured a total of PLN 60 billion for the project.
Speaking before a Cabinet meeting, Tusk said the Commission’s decision had been “absolutely essential and by no means easy to obtain” and that construction would be able to "get going at full speed" by the end of December.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, must clear state aid for major projects to ensure that government support does not distort competition inside the single market.
Polish Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka said the Commission’s decision marked another step toward building Poland’s first nuclear power plant and hailed "the speed of the process."
Poland submitted its formal notification of the aid scheme in September last year and received approval in what the energy ministry said was "a record time" compared with similar nuclear cases in Europe.
Motyka said the plant would support the energy transition, strengthen energy sovereignty and provide stable power supplies.
Finance and Economy Minister Andrzej Domański said in a video message that a large nuclear project was essential for a fast growing economy.
“Poland is today the fastest growing large economy in the European Union. We need a stable and safe source of energy. Nuclear power is exactly such a source,” he said.
At a press conference after the government's meeting, Motyka outlined the next steps.
The government plans to file a construction permit application in 2027, with work such as “pouring the first concrete under the reactor” to start in 2028.
If the schedule is kept, commercial operation of the first unit would begin in 2036.
The energy ministry said the Commission had approved a “complete support model” for the project in line with Polish proposals and described the plant as the largest energy sector project in the country’s history.
Deputy Energy Minister Wojciech Wrochna called the Commission’s decision “one of the key stages” of the project.
He said the approval was the result of “extremely hard work” on a financing mechanism that "takes into account the interests of the state, the investor and electricity consumers."
State-owned company Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe is developing the plant at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the northern Pomerania region under Poland's nuclear power program.
The facility will have an installed capacity of 3,750 megawatts and will consist of three units using AP1000 technology from US company Westinghouse, with construction carried out by a consortium of Westinghouse and Bechtel.
The first reactor is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2036.
Officials say nuclear energy will become a major pillar of Poland's energy mix and play a critical role in the country's transition away from fossil fuels.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP