The three foreign companies being considered to build nuclear power plants in Poland are currently American Westinghouse, Korean KHNP, and French EDF.
American Westinghouse had been predicted to be the winner of the contracts for constructing nuclear power plants in Poland, but during the recent talks of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki with the French and Koreans, the topic of energy cooperation was discussed, and now EDF and KHNP also hope to secure contracts.
Mateusz Morawiecki said that France was a natural partner regarding nuclear power plants. “We talked about this earlier. I would like to speed up this process,” said Morawiecki prior to a meeting with Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Aug. 30.
On the very same day, Morawiecki made a phone call to the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-Yeol. One of the topics that was discussed was the energy cooperation between Warsaw and Seoul, including nuclear energy: “Poland is taking decisive steps in order to secure this sector,” an official statement read.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) expressed interest in participating in the Polish nuclear power program, and on April 21, 2022, it made an offer to construct nuclear plants in Poland.
This could indicate that until the technological partner for the Polish nuclear power program is selected, all options are on the table. American Westinghouse, preferred during Piotr Naimski’s time in office as government plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure, could lose its position in favor of EDF or KHNP.
Poland is to select the technology and model of financing nuclear energy this year. It wants to have the first reactor built by 2033 and 6-9 GW in 2040 with one technological partner.
That program could be increased in size by more gigawatts and more partners. Mateusz Berger, the new government plenipotentiary close to Mateusz Morawiecki, is responsible for the program, as Piotr Naimski was dismissed due to the dispute over the merger of Polish companies Orlen, Lotos, and PGNiG.
