Orlen Synthos Green Energy, a 50‑50 venture between refiner Orlen and chemicals group Synthos, said on Monday its deal with Ontario Power Generation will give the Polish company access to the services and know‑how needed to build and operate BWRX‑300 small modular reactors (SMRs).
“Canada created the full procedures in April; we can now avoid their early mistakes,” OSGE vice‑president Bartosz Fijałkowski told reporters, adding that staff exchanges, training and joint engineering work would begin immediately.
Fijałkowski said constructing a single SMR should take no more than 36 months. OSGE hopes to secure Polish regulatory clearance by 2028 and start building the first reactor core the same year.
Two units at Włocławek, next to Orlen’s Anwil chemicals plant, are slated to supply power and heat by 2035.
Energy ministry official Paweł Gajda called the partnership “important”, stressing that Poland’s planned large nuclear station at Lubiatowo‑Kopalino “is not the end of our nuclear ambitions; we want to develop small reactors as well.”
The January 2025 Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between the Polish and Canadian governments paved the way for technology transfer.
In May, Ontario committed to build the world’s first BWRX‑300 at its Darlington site, a project budgeted at C$6.1 billion for the initial reactor.
OSGE is already analyzing three Polish sites—Włocławek, Stawy Monowskie near Oświęcim and Ostrołęka—and has grid‑connection terms for the first location.
Deep seismic studies are under way, and major construction should start within 18 months, Fijałkowski said.
He added that Orlen and Synthos are “on the home stretch” of a new shareholder agreement covering project sequencing, technology access and funding; Orlen’s stake could rise.
Regulatory hurdles remain: last December, Poland’s climate ministry issued six preliminary licenses for OSGE projects despite a negative security opinion from the domestic intelligence agency.
Government audits of both the company and earlier ministry decisions are ongoing.
GE Hitachi’s 300‑MW boiling‑water design qualifies as an SMR, a category Poland hopes will complement its large‑scale nuclear plans.
(jh)
Source: PAP