Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) has begun the environmental and siting study for the first SMR BWRX-300 small nuclear reactor project at Stawy Monowskie. BWRX-300 is a project of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy – a joint venture between US GE and Japan’s Hitachi.
“The General Director of Environmental Protection has issued a decision defining the requirements for the scope of the environmental report for the construction of a small modular nuclear power plant (SMR) at Stawy Monowskie in Małopolska. This is the first such decision in the entire European Union and another important step in the process of building BWRX-300 reactors in Poland”, reported Orlen Synthos Green Energy.
Although the construction of SMRs can have an important role in the decarbonisation process, it will not replace the need to invest in RES and large-scale nuclear power. The climate ministry last December granted the company six decisions to build a total of 24 reactors using this technology.
The decisions concern locations in: Ostrołęka, Włocławek, Stawy Monowskie, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Nowa Huta and Stalowa Wola. In the process of obtaining the fundamental decision, an opinion from the Internal Security Agency (ABW) is required. According to media reports, the ABW opinion for the OSGE projects was negative.
According to OSGE, the technology implementation process was conducted transparently from the beginning, so the company filed a request to declassify the ABW opinion justification and allow the company access to the file. These requests were rejected, OSGE reported in December that it would seek declassification through the courts.
Orlen Synthos Green Energy has been included in the strategic US Phoenix programme and will receive funding from the State Department to accelerate a small reactor project in Poland. The funding has been awarded as part of Project Phoenix. This is a US State Department programme to support the energy transition in Central Europe to build small modular reactors in place of coal-fired power plants.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński