Poland’s NP project company Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) has applied to the Head of the Pomorskie Voivodeship (region) for a construction permit covering “early works” for Poland’s first NPP. The plant, being developed at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site within the Choczewo commune in Pomerania on the Baltic coast, will house three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors with a combined installed capacity of 3,750 MWe.
The early works (or preliminary construction works) involve major earthworks and infrastructure preparation that do not directly touch the nuclear safety-related parts of the plant. This includes digging deep trenches for reactor foundations, wall stabilisation, groundwater protection, and building the onshore sections of the facility’s cooling water channels.
This includes construction of a retention basin to collect rainwater and meltwater, as well as the construction of internal roads and special launch pits for the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) and construction of the onshore part of the Circulating Water System (pipelines for the intake and discharge of water used to cool down the power plant).
This system has been classified by PAA as not safety-relatedand is considered part of the “non-nuclear” part of the plant and can be built before the licences required for the power plant’s main facilities are obtained. According to the plans, the cooling system pipelines – the seawater intake and discharge channels – will be installed beneath the beach and the seabed of the Baltic Sea using a trenchless method.
The application leverages a new legal instrument introduced by a July 2026 amendment to Poland’s nuclear energy facility regulations. It allows PEJ to bypass waiting for a separate licence from the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA – Państwowa Agencja Atomistyki) for these specific non-nuclear infrastructure tasks, significantly accelerating the project schedule.
PEJ expects to obtain the early works permit from the Pomeranian Voivode in 2027, allowing deep excavations to begin immediately. The utility is actively working toward submitting its application for the main, comprehensive construction permit in 2027. Pouring of the first structural nuclear concrete is scheduled for 2028, with commercial operations for the first unit targeted for 2036.
PEJ and its American consortium partner, Bechtel, are concurrently conducting deep onshore and offshore geological surveys while advancing long-lead equipment procurement.
“The construction of the nuclear power plant is the largest energy project in the history of Poland. We have amended the regulations to streamline the project delivery,” said Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka. “The application for the permit for early works is a practical use of these solutions. Nuclear power means greater energy security for our country and a stable energy supply for decades to come for the Polish economy and Polish households.”
PEJ Management Board President Marek Woszczyk noted: “The application for early works is crucial for at least two reasons. Firstly, from a scheduling perspective, it allows us to begin some of the basic work, which is not directly related to the nuclear part of the power plant, earlier, without having to wait for further administrative approvals, while maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety. Secondly, submitting this application would not have been possible without cooperation with the government and the efficient processing of the necessary amendments to the Nuclear Special Act, which is why I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the institutions and parties involved in this process.”
