Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the Alvin W. Vogtle nuclear power plant in the US state of Georgia. The technology used there is also to be used in Poland, in the first nuclear power plant planned for Pomerania.
President Duda assured that Poland is committed to an energy transition using nuclear power plants. However, he did not rule out a one-year delay in the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant.
“If even the first reactor in Poland starts in 2035, we are still within the general timeframe. I would like it to be implemented as soon as possible, if necessary, please expect another Cabinet Council”, announced Andrzej Duda.
The Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Generating Station is a four-block nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia, in the southeastern United States.
Its first two units were built in 1987 and 1989. The recently commissioned Vogtle Units 3 and 4 will generate 17,200,000 megawatt hours of environmentally clean energy annually, while preventing 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere.
Vogtle units 3 and 4 are the first two reactors to be built in the US in decades. They use AP1000 technology, which will also be implemented in Poland, in the first nuclear power plant planned for Pomerania, where three reactors of this type will be constructed in cooperation between Polskie Elektrownia Jądrowa, Westinghouse and Bechtel.
“I am glad that we are going to have the first ever nuclear power plant in Poland, that we are going to realise this great investment also in order to realise the assumptions of climate policy in the future, i.e. to protect the climate and limit CO2 emissions”, said Andrzej Duda.
The President pointed out that the American power plant is at the same time a major employer in the region, employing over 800 people. This will also be the case here in Pomerania, where several hundred people are expected to be employed. It will be a large power plant. We are planning to install three reactors with the latest AP1000 technology”, he added.
Adrian Andrzejewski