2 November 2022
Today, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski welcomed the announcement by the Government of Poland that it would select U.S. firm Westinghouse Electric Company to supply three AP1000 nuclear power reactors in Poland.
“I am grateful for the leadership that Prime Minister Morawiecki showed by overseeing the selection of Westinghouse for this historic project. Today, Poland is investing in a clean and secure energy future for all of the Polish people,” said Ambassador Brzezinski.
The selection of Westinghouse for this endeavor underscores the deep strategic security and economic relationship that exists between the United States and Poland. As Poland’s NATO Ally, the United States’ commitment to Poland’s security is unshakable. In addition to the U.S.-Poland relationship on defense, the United States is proud to be Poland’s strongest partner for both energy security and economic security.
The Westinghouse AP1000 is the safest most reliable nuclear power plant technology available in the world today. It will produce 3,600 MW, as much as 15% of Poland’s total electricity consumption.
This project represents 100 years of new strategic cooperation between the United States and Poland, including the construction phase, the operating life of the plants, and their future decommissioning. The construction of these nuclear power plants will support 20,000 good paying Polish jobs. When fully operational, the project will avoid 26 million tons of carbon emissions annually, as much as some countries produce annually. It is one of the largest clean energy projects in European history.
Today’s decision is the culmination of a years-long effort between the United States and Polish governments to develop innovative joint financing and technical solutions to address Polish clean energy needs. This first-of-its-kind effort included a pioneering public-private partnership between the U.S. government, Westinghouse,
and Bechtel, through which $10 million in key technical studies were jointly financed by the U.S. parties.
This is just the beginning. Westinghouse and the Polish project company Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) must now negotiate their commercial arrangement, and there is a great deal more engineering work which can now move forward. The United States Government encourages PEJ to select Bechtel as the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contractor for the project. The United States Government will remain engaged to follow through on financing commitments. U.S. and Polish regulators will continue to collaborate so that the Polish Atomic Agency is well prepared to regulate and license the construction and operation of AP1000 reactors.
As part of our intergovernmental agreement on civil nuclear energy, which forms the basis of our cooperation on large nuclear technology, the United States would like to establish the Department of Energy European regional clean energy training center in Poland. The center will help bring Europe the experience and knowledge from our world class national laboratories. It will help support this nuclear project and the future deployment of other advanced U.S. nuclear energy technologies. The center will help provide workforce training and facilitate the integrations of nuclear energy with other clean technologies, such as renewables.
