Industrial Development Agency-owned Świętokrzyska Grupa Przemysłowa (ŚGP) Industria and British investment fund Chiltern Vital Group have signed a letter of intent to cooperate in the development of Rolls-Royce’s small modular reactor (SMR) technology in Poland.
ŚGP Industria and the British company will cooperate in the areas of training Polish specialists, exchange of know-how to accelerate the licensing of components for the nuclear industry, and the development of technology for the construction of future low-carbon regional industrial parks. According to Industria, a realistic start-up date for the reactor is the second half of the 2030s.
In 2023, ŚGP Industria, after more than two years of collaboration with Rolls-Royce SMR, selected the company’s small modular reactor technology for use in the Central Valley Hydrogen (CDW). The Rolls-Royce SMR project is a 470 MW pressurised water reactor – developed on the basis of the company’s experience with nuclear ship propulsion.
Industria’s CEO Szczepan Ruman emphasised on the signing of the letter that an SMR-type energy source had been part of CDW’s plans for the Świętokrzyskie region from the beginning. As he added, the Chiltern Vital Group fund has experience in developing low-carbon projects combining multiple industries, such as the CDW is to be. The CEO estimates that a realistic timeframe for an SMR reactor from Rolls-Royce to be operational in Poland is 2037.
The Świętokrzyska Grupa Przemysłowa Industria was established on the basis of the Świętokrzyskie Kopalnie Surowców Mineralnych (ŚKSM). ŚKSM today operates three mines in the Świętokrzyskie region, extracting stone and limestone.
Industria also includes departments for the production of fertilisers based on raw materials from ŚKSM, logistics and Green Energy, investing in renewable energy sources and hydrogen solutions, as well as a department for the development of solutions based on nuclear energy. Ultimately, Industria plans to decarbonise its operations and make carbon-free energy, logistics and green hydrogen available to other players in the region.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński