US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski met with the CEO of the Polish energy company Orlen, Daniel Obajtek. The topics of conversation included cooperation in nuclear energy.

“I was pleased to meet today with Daniel Obajtek, the head of PKN Orlen, to discuss the possibility of a US-Poland nuclear energy partnership. We also had the opportunity to discuss other areas of strategic cooperation”, Mark Brzezinski wrote on Twitter.

A few days ago, the US made an offer to Poland to build a nuclear power plant in Poland. They are proposing 6 large-scale reactors based on American technology. The Americans would get involved in the construction both business-wise and financially. The Polish government has also received two other proposals from Korean and French partners. A decision on the choice of nuclear power plant technology is expected in October.

The document called ‘Conceptual and Implementation Report on Cooperation in the Area of Civil Nuclear Energy’ was created over 18 months and its handover marks the closing of the first stage of the Polish-US agreement of October 2020.

The research focused on the alignment of US nuclear technology with the expectations of the Polish Nuclear Power Programme and the Polish Nuclear Power Plants, as well as the costs of the overall project. The report was accepted by a bilateral committee that included the US Secretary of Energy and the Polish Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment.

According to the Polish Economic Institute, nuclear power plants could meet up to 38.4 % of Poland’s projected electricity demand in 2043, and the development of nuclear power will be beneficial to the economy, potentially increasing Poland’s Gross Domestic Product by more than 1 % by 2043 and generating up to 40,000 jobs over 50 years.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński