State-owned nuclear developer Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) transferred the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site to the US company on Wednesday afternoon.
The plant will be built in the Choczewo municipality on Poland’s Baltic coast.
Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka, PEJ Chief Executive Marek Woszczyk and US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose attended the ceremony, alongside Bechtel executives, lawmakers and local officials.
"This is the largest investment in the Polish economy in the modern history of Poland," Motyka said.
He described the project as a government priority that would provide affordable electricity, secure supply, greater energy independence and a new industrial supply chain.
Woszczyk and Bechtel Poland CEO Leszek Hołda signed the site handover agreement.
More than 300 hectares have been cleared and separated from the surrounding area. Electricity lines have also been installed to supply the future construction site.
Bechtel will now coordinate work at the location, supervise contractors and assume responsibility for safety during the current stage of the project.
Polish construction company Budimex also signed an agreement with Bechtel on Wednesday to carry out earthworks and prepare the site.
The work will include leveling the land, expanding drainage systems and building about 16 kilometers of temporary roads.
Construction facilities will include offices, warehouses, workshops, equipment yards, fuel storage and vehicle washing areas.
About 6 kilometers of drainage ditches will also be built, along with culverts and erosion controls.
Preparatory work covered by the current permit is scheduled to run from the third quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2029.
Hołda said work at the location had already been underway for some time. One of three stages of geological and geotechnical surveys beneath the planned reactors has been completed.
More than 23 kilometers of drilling has been carried out through over 200 boreholes, producing about 10,000 samples.
"This is all being done to establish the parameters for the plant’s foundations and the nuclear reactor foundations with the greatest possible precision," Hołda said.
PEJ said it had signed more than 470 contracts with Polish businesses since 2020, worth over PLN 1.2 billion (EUR 280,000, USD 320 million).
The figure includes contracts worth around PLN 370 million with 77 companies from the Pomerania region.
"This number has been growing very rapidly recently," Woszczyk said. "Over the past year and a half in particular, more companies from Pomerania have joined us."
The plant will have an installed capacity of 3,750 megawatts and will consist of three units using AP1000 technology from US company Westinghouse, with construction carried out by a consortium of Westinghouse and Bechtel.
The first reactor is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2036.
Officials say nuclear energy will become a major pillar of Poland's energy mix and play a critical role in the country's transition away from fossil fuels.
(rt)
Source: IAR, PAP