WARSAW

The Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ), a special-purpose vehicle 100% owned by Poland's State Treasury, and the US firm Westinghouse-Bechtel Consortium on Monday signed an agreement to continue construction of a nuclear power plant in Poland.

"We discussed our current and future nuclear energy cooperation, which has gained new momentum thanks to the secretary and my ministers' involvement. The first investment was made today under a new, improved agreement," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw following a meeting with US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.

"I will not deny that the Polish side attempted to improve this agreement in the interests of both our own and our partners. We have changed many key issues in 16 areas, and the agreement is now more certain," Tusk said.

"The guarantees given by the United States provide us with a sense of security about our investment. Polish-American relations are the best they can be. This is a friendship founded on credible and thoughtful decisions," he added.

In early April, the PEJ and the Westinghouse-Bechtel Consortium agreed on the terms and conditions of an Engineering Development Agreement for Poland's first nuclear power plant after an earlier agreement expired.

Westinghouse AP1000 reactor technology was first chosen by the Polish government for construction at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania, northern Poland in November 2022.

"Today we are one step further in implementing the project of building the first Polish nuclear power plant," Poland’s Ministry of Industry Secretary of State Wojciech Wrochna was quoted by the Polish news service Onet as saying.

In March, President Andrzej Duda signed legislation allocating funds from the national budget to Poland's first nuclear power plant. The PEJ is expected to receive 60.2 billion zlotys (approximately $15.5 billion) in public funding between 2025 and 2030.

The aim is for Poland's first AP1000 reactor to enter commercial operation in 2033.