Poland's politicians and businessmen are competing to build the country's first nuclear power plant. In order to reduce dependence on coal is serious and realize the diversification of energy sources, the polish government in 2005 to introduce the technology, but with some European countries increase nuclear power project cost, construction delay, wave political confidence in nuclear power, the original plan in 2020 before and after the first nuclear power plant put into production, today still failed to solve the key problems, such as financing, site selection and construction planning.

The polish business community, on the other hand, wants to change the status quo of "standing still" and adopt a small modular nuclear reactor technology with more cost advantages so as to land the country's first nuclear power plant as soon as possible.

The government is targeting large nuclear plants

According to the draft energy policy document released by the polish ministry of energy at the end of last year, the site of the first nuclear power plant will be determined in 2020, and the technology and general contractor will be determined in 2021.

Reuters pointed out that under the timetable, the polish government should now come up with a plan to implement it, but so far the only certainty is that large nuclear plants are the government's first choice. Although high costs remain a hurdle, polish politicians are sceptical about the logic of investing in small modular reactors and the ability to bring them online in the short term.

Poland's pro-nuclear energy minister, Krzysztof Tchorzewski, said publicly in May that Poland's largest utility, PGE, which builds and operates the country's first nuclear power plant in the northern Pomerania region, was conducting environmental studies at two coastal candidates.

Currently, Poland relies on coal for about 80% of its electricity. Under the guidance of the European Union and even the global climate action program, Poland has pledged to reduce the use of coal, but set the goal of reducing the proportion of coal-fired power generation to 60% by 2030 and 50% by 2050. Increase the share of natural gas, offshore wind, solar and nuclear power generation to 20% by 2040.

Poland's second richest man, miha soro, has struck a deal with general electric's Hitachi nuclear power (GEH) to build a small modular reactor, the country's energy ministry said in a statement.

The business world likes modular stacks

Bloomberg has reported that the solo all Europe's second-biggest synthetic rubber manufacturers, large chemical raw material manufacturers Synthos Poland and GEH signed a memorandum of understanding, the two sides will revolve around the latter BWRX - 300 small modular reactor technology in Poland the potential deployment of application, at the same time, plans of building a 300 megawatts of installed in southern Poland little heap, estimated cost $1 billion, is expected to begin as early as 2027.

That is six years before the government's first nuclear power plant was built, but it is unclear whether Mr Solo's business community will win the race as GEH's bwrx-300 technology has yet to be commercialised.

Mr Solo is confident that a small modular reactor will be built by the end of the next decade, he told Poland's business daily pulsating.

"Small modular reactors can play an important role in Poland's response to energy challenges, modernisation of the energy sector and the necessary and responsible deep decarbonisation." "It will not only help us move away from coal, but it will also have a positive impact on the development of the industry and the national economy."

Mr Solow added that if the bwrx-300 could be commercialised by 2024, it would be on track to reach Poland's first nuclear power plant by 2027.

With the cost of carbon emissions rising every year in the European Union, making coal-fired power no longer affordable,Synthos is looking for reliable, economical, carbon-free sources of power. In Mr Solow's view, nuclear power is an important step towards diversifying Poland's energy supply, and the small modular reactors seen as a new direction for nuclear power will undoubtedly accelerate the country's energy transition.

Low cost advantage of small reactor is highlighted

GEH received a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. department of energy last July to study efficient ways to build power plants based on the small, modular bwrx-300 reactor. GEH pointed out that the advantages of the bwrx-300 lie in its low cost and high security.

The bwrx-300 is about a tenth the size and complexity of a large reactor and costs about $7 million to build, or $2,250 per kilowatt, GEH's chief consulting engineer told an international conference on small modular reactors and advanced reactors in Atlanta last year. Operating and maintenance costs are below $16 / mw/h, and equalization costs $40 / mw/h.

"The bwrx-300 is a groundbreaking innovation in the nuclear power industry and a sign of the economic progress of the new nuclear energy, especially at a time when the industry is facing high costs." "Compared to current light-water reactors, the bwrx-300 is more efficient, simpler, safer and smaller," said Jon Ball, executive vice President of the GEH nuclear power program.

The industry is generally positive about the prospects of modular small reactors in Poland. Krzysztof Bolesta, an energy and climate expert, said: "this collaboration may be small in terms of capacity, but it is important in terms of ideas alone. This is a wise business move that indirectly points the way forward for Poland's energy economy."

Bloomberg new energy finance policy analyst at the European Katherine Poseidon argues that small modular reactor distance commercialization is still a long way to go, the world's first such projects not in 2026 years ago, but for Poland relied heavily on coal, it is definitely a big move, its due to more low carbon transformation and is willing to create an affordable zero carbon economy in the future. （From CNNPN)