Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, during a visit to Warsaw, has proposed Candu reactor technology for Poland’s second NPP. Poland selected US-based Westinghouse AP1000 reactor technology for its first three-unit NPP, to be built at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania, where site preparation is underway.
Poland has now begun consultations to select a partner for a second NPP. The Polish government has said the partner for the construction of the second plant will be selected in a competitive procedure, which should take place in 2027. Information has been requested from Westinghouse with the AP1000 reactor, France’s EDF with the EPR reactor, Korea’s KHNP with its APR models and Canada’s AtkinsRealis with Candus. Korea has yet to respond
Hodgson met with Poland’s Minister of State Assets, Wojciech Balczun, Minister of Energy Miłosz Motyka and the Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, Wojciech Wrochna. Meetings were also held with energy companies, including Orlen.
“We shared with them our intentions to provide significant support for Candu’s proposal, Hodgson said. “It can be assumed that the Canadian government will fully support it.” He noted that the Canadian government was supporting the project to build two Candu reactors in Romania with, among other things, a loan of CAD3bn ($2.2bn) from the local export credit agency. He added that the project is being implemented on schedule and in line with the planned budget.
According to Tim Hodgson, the approximate cost of the Canadian NPP project would be approximately CAD45-50bn or approximately PLN117-130bn. For comparison, the first NPP being built by Westinghouse is expected to cost approximately PLN178bn, and with financing costs approximately PLN192bn.
He emphasised, the choice of technology rests with Poland, adding that Canada can propose either Candu-6 reactors with a capacity of around 700 MWe or the new design Candu Monark with a capacity of 1,000 MWe.
The Canadian company AtkinsRealis, owner of Candu technology, will present Poland with a comprehensive offer when the Polish side announces a competitive procedure for the second nuclear power plant, AtkinsRealis CEO Ian Edwards told PAP. “We deeply believe that we will receive support in this regard from the Canadian government and private investors, especially Canadian ones. We will also look at Poland’s options and hope to present a proposal that is as beneficial and responsive to the Polish side as possible,” he said.
Candu (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a heavy-water reactor technology developed in Canada and developed over 70 years which uses natural uranium as fuel. There are 26 such reactors operating worldwide, 17 of which are in Canada and the rest in Romania (2), Argentina (1), China (2), South Korea (3) and India (1).
“We have independently developed our own nuclear energy technology, and AtkinsRealis has supported its further development for many years and ensured the operationalisation, expansion and maintenance of Candu reactors in Canada and around the world,” Edwards said.
If Poland decided to accept Canada’s offer, the local content of such a project could be up to 70%, he noted. “AtkinsRealis would be responsible for engineering, quality control, the nuclear island itself and manufacturing some of the components,” but the company always supports the development of a local supply chain.
“For example, in Argentina, with the construction of the reactor, we created a supply chain that we continue to use in subsequent investments,” he explained. “With Romania, we already have a 50-year history of close cooperation, in which Candu and AtkinsRealis have built a true industrial nuclear energy ecosystem there. We would like to operate in Poland in a similar way, cooperating with Polish companies from the local value chain.”
AtkinsRealis President, Nuclear, Joe St Julian told PAP that, because Canada does not want to be dependent on other countries, it has the capacity to produce all parts of the Candu reactor at home where it also has access to uranium.
“Our reactor has been designed and developed in such a simple way that local companies and employees can be equipped with the know-how and taught the necessary Candu quality standards so that many components and components can be manufactured locally,” he emphasised.
The Candu’s use of natural uranium is a competitive advantage, he said. “It is widely and easily available… unlike enriched uranium used in other technologies. The difference between natural and enriched uranium is significant in terms of its cost and availability. In addition, natural uranium is not subject to a number of regulations that enriched uranium is subject to.”
Another advantage is the ability to produce radioisotopes used in medicine and industry. “Each Candu reactor is immediately prepared for this and can be used in two ways at the same time: to produce electricity and radioisotopes. Isotopes generate an additional revenue stream, which means they reduce costs.”
In a much longer interview with Rzeczpospolita, Ian Edwards provided more detail. He said: “Our bridgehead in Europe is Romania. The Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant has been using our Candu technology for 50 years…. Using Romania as an example, we show the Polish government that for us, building a nuclear plant is not a temporary adventure, but a long-term partnership. Over the past few decades, we have supported the development of the nuclear sector in Romania, which has also selected us as the contractor for two more reactors.”
He stressed the importance of local participation. “We have a developed supply chain in Canada where we are able to produce Candu reactor components. We are not dependent on anyone. However, when we build a power plant abroad knowing how important it is to create new jobs with this type of investment, we rely on local industry to enable the production of components on site. In this way, we want to maximise the potential of the country where we are implementing a given project.”
He added: “We estimate that we can produce up to 70% of the necessary components here, in Poland. This 70% means that up to CAD7 in CAD10 spent on building this power plant will be invested in the supply chain in Poland. This is an asset that other technology providers are unlikely to be able to meet…. We are conducting many talks with Polish companies and as part of this process …will conduct further workshops and Supplier Days with over 87 Polish companies that may be contractors or suppliers for a potential second nuclear power plant in Poland.”
Edwards said talks with Poland are ongoing. “Our February talks with the Polish government are probably the fourth in a row. The talks are so advanced that we are already conducting dialogue in specialised technical groups…. We have so far conducted two workshops in Warsaw for representatives of the Polish government and Polish officials. They concerned the details of our technology. On the basis of these workshops, a permanent dialogue is under way. This means that our Polish partners send us their questions and we answer them. Moreover, a Polish government delegation has already been to Canada and visited our Candu facility in Toronto. Together with our Romanian partners, we invited the Polish delegation to visit the Cernavodă power plant.”
Asked about financing, he said financing would be provided “but it is difficult for us at this stage to talk about the scale of financial commitment or the financing model, and the process itself and its components are complicated”. HE added that, in addition to Canadian and Polish government support, commercial financing is also involved. “The final financing mechanism for the investment will be extremely complex, but we will make every effort to make it as effective and beneficial as possible.”
