Westinghouse-Bechtel consortium to build three AP1000 reactor units
Geological studies will begin in May 2024 at the proposed site of Poland’s first nuclear power station near the villages of Lubiatowo and Kopalino in the Baltic province of Pomerania.
Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ), the state-owned company responsible for the project, said the ground onsite has been prepared “accordingly” for US-based Bechtel’s Polish branch to begin “in-depth geological studies”.
In November 2022, Warsaw chose US-based Westinghouse Electric to supply its AP1000 pressurised water reactor technology for a three-unit nuclear station at Poland’s Baltic coast northwest of Gdansk.
In late 2023, Westinghouse formed a consortium with US partner Bechtel for the project.
PEJ said geological studies by Bechtel are a “milestone” element under the 2023 contract on the design of the country’s first nuclear power station.
The company said the goal of the in-depth geological studies is to detail the geological, engineering, and hydrogeological conditions previously surveyed. Works will cover an area of about 30 hectares and will involve approximately 220 research locations with depths ranging from 20 to 210 metres.
According to says Leszek Juchniewicz, acting president of PEJ, work carried out by US partners was to date mainly limited to preparatory and analytical issues carried out at the company's headquarters in Warsaw.
"The project to build Poland's first nuclear power plant is gaining momentum,” Juchniewicz said, adding that “we are facing a very important and challenging time related to the design and construction of the first nuclear power plant in our country."
PEJ said the results of the geological studies, which will be conducted until the end of 2024, will be used to support the design of the Lubiatowo-Kopalino nuclear plant, including all main structures, and also to provide a site report to the Polish regulator as part of the construction permitting process.
PEJ also said that a Polish company, P.S.D., had been subcontracted by Bechtel to carry out the geological study works.
Earlier this month, PEJ received a permit to start the works from the Ministry of Climate and Environment.
