Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) has applied to the head of Pomorskie Voivodeship for a permit to start preparatory works required for the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant.

The application concerns preparatory works, including surveying works and fencing the preparatory works area.

Preparatory works are to be carried out on an area of about 300 hectares in two phases, first on about 45% of the site. One of the necessary actions at the site of the future power plant will be the removal of vegetation preceded by mitigation measures - including metaplantation and the installation of bird and bat boxes. These activities have been planned in accordance with the conditions set forth in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) decision for the nuclear power plant.

“We have divided the preparatory works into several stages, thus minimising the potential nuisance associated with such activities,” said PEJ President Leszek Juchniewicz. “We have in mind especially the local communities of Choczewo and neighbouring communes.”

PEJ - a special-purpose vehicle 100% owned by the State Treasury - has also submitted a report on the project’s environmental impact reassessment for the first phase of the planned preparatory works. The company said it has thereby fulfilled the condition of the General Director for Environmental Protection’s environmental decision of 19 September 2023 for the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant in the Choczewo commune. The report, as an output of PEJ’s cooperation with Energopomiar Gliwice - a company specialising in comprehensive studies for energy projects - analysed the impact of preparatory works on the environment. Similarly, separate reports on the project’s environmental impact reassessment will be developed for subsequent phases of work as part of the nuclear power plant construction.

“Until the actual civil works begin, PEJ plans to obtain, among other things, a construction licence (issued by the National Atomic Energy Agency, PAA) and a construction permit (issued by the Head of Pomorskie Voivodeship),” the company said.

In November 2022, the then Polish government selected the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor technology for construction at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania in northern Poland. An agreement setting a plan for the delivery of the plant was signed in May last year by Westinghouse, Bechtel and PEJ. The Ministry of Climate and Environment in July issued a decision-in-principle for PEJ to construct the plant. The aim is for Poland’s first AP1000 reactor to enter commercial operation in 2033.

Under an engineering services signed in September last year, in cooperation with PEJ, Westinghouse and Bechtel will finalise a site-specific design for a plant featuring three AP1000 reactors. The design/engineering documentation includes the main components of the power plant: the nuclear island, the turbine island and the associated installations and auxiliary equipment, as well as administrative buildings and infrastructure related to the safety of the facility. The contract also involves supporting the investment process and bringing it in line with current legal regulations in cooperation with the PAA and the Office of Technical Inspection.