Poland’s Orlen has agreed with Synthos Green Energy (SGE) to the first BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) in Włocławek and to reset governance at their Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) joint venture.
The 300 MWe BWRX-300 is a 10th generation water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s 1,500 MWe ESBWR boiling water reactor and its experience with cross-border regulatory collaboration.
Orlen said the agreement covers two areas: new rules for the 50/50 OSGE joint venture and a licence granting OSGE full access to the US BWRX-300 Standard Design. This will pave the way for the process to construct Poland’s first SMR at a key Orlen location in Włocławek. A special-purpose company controlled by Orlen will handle construction.
According to Business Insider Polska, which was the first to report the agreement, Orlen and SGE had “been at an impasse for a year and a half”, unable to agree on terms for their cooperation. A particular bone of contention was control over rights to use the SMR technology. SGE had exclusive rights to use it in several European countries, whereas OSGE only had the right to do so in Poland.
This issue has now been resolved. “The first Polish SMR nuclear power plant will be built in Włocławek. We are building the energy of tomorrow,” Orlen CEO Ireneusz Fąfara said, adding that the supervisory board approved the agreement and confirming that Orlen had spent over a year negotiating terms to secure direct access to the technology.
Under the revised OSGE arrangements, Orlen and SGE will alternate every three years in appointing the venture’s CEO and the chair of the supervisory board. Orlen will name the first chair and SGE will appoint the CEO. A new Steering Committee will oversee execution of the agreement and decisions concerning OSGE and special-purpose entities for additional reactors.
The company’s strategy, Energy of Tomorrow Starts Today envisages at least two SMR units totalling 0.6 GWe by 2035. OSGE plans a fleet of BWRX-300 units in Poland, with initial sites named as Stawy Monowskie near Oświęcim, Włocławek and Ostrołęka, where environmental proceedings are under way.
Orlen said its Włocławek site includes the Anwil plant producing nitrogen fertilizers and PVC. OSGE noted SGE is part of a wider group with a mission to build BWRX-300 reactors as a zero-carbon, stable power source for households and industry. SGE, founded in 2019, is part of the largest private industrial group in Poland – MS Galleon, owned by Michał Sołowow. The group consists of more than 20 companies from various sectors of the economy, including chemical company Synthos.
In December 2021, SGE signed a letter of intent with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy with the aim of setting up at least 10 BWRX-300 reactors in Poland by 2030. In 2023, the European Commission approved the establishment the OSGE joint venture.
Włocławek was one of six locations shortlisted by OSGE in 2023 for further geological surveys to host SMR plants based on the BWRX-300, for which it holds the exclusive rights in Poland. The other locations were: Ostrołęka, Stawy Monowskie, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Nowa Huta and the Tarnobrzeg Special Economic Zone. In December 2023, the Ministry of Climate & Environment issued decisions-in-principle for all six plants.
Then in February this year, Poland’s General Director for Environmental Protection issued the scope of the environmental reports for the proposed SMR projects at two sites – Włocławek and Ostrołęka. This enabled OSGE to begin environmental and siting research.
In July, OSGE and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) signed a letter of intent for services to support deployment and safe operation of SMRs in Poland, building on cooperation agreed in June 2023. The first BWRX-300 unit is being built for OPG at Canada’s Darlington plant, scheduled for completion in 2028. It is the reference project for OSGE.
Earlier in 2025, the environmental protection agency issued regulations specifying reporting requirements for the potential construction of SMRs in Włocławek Gazeta Wyborcza reported. OSGE revealed that preparing such a report will take around two years.
In August, SGE signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Slovak power utility Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) to review cooperation in the development and deployment of SMRs based on BWRX-300 technology in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the partnership is to analyse the possibilities for investment, licensing and joint development of SMR projects in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and other European countries.
Polands first large-scale NPP is being constructed at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania. An agreement setting a plan for the delivery of the plant was signed in May 2023 by Westinghouse, Bechtel and state-owned project company Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ).
