Poland to build Europe’s first of its kind small-scale nuclear power plant in Włocławek

Poland will build Europe’s first BWRX-300 small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), marking a major step in its shift away from coal and toward cleaner energy, state-run energy giant Orlen announced Thursday.

"Europe's first small BWRX-300 nuclear power plant will be built in Poland: we are building the energy of tomorrow," Orlen CEO Ireneusz Fąfara said in a press release.

The decision follows an agreement between Orlen and Synthos Green Energy. Orlen, Poland’s largest energy company, plans to have at least two SMRs with a combined capacity of 0.6 gigawatts up and running by 2035.

Under the agreement, the two companies will establish a joint venture, Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE), with each holding a 50 per cent stake. A key provision of the deal grants OSGE full access to American-developed BWRX-300 technology.

This will "allow the company to move forward with the process that will culminate in the construction of Poland's first SMR nuclear power plant at a location of key importance to Orlen - in Wloclawek," the press release reads.

Poland is looking to move away from coal

In 2023, Poland approved the construction of 24 SMRs at six locations. The upcoming Włocławek plant represents another critical step in the country’s broader strategy to move away from fossil fuels, particularly coal.

According to a report by think tank Forum Energii, in 2019 Poland burned around 87 per cent of all coal consumed in households in the European Union.

Orlen described the BWRX-300 as the most technologically advanced SMR project in the world.

"Access to these solutions puts OSGE, and therefore Orlen, among the pioneers in the use of this technology," it emphasised.