NuScale Power and the Polish copper and silver producer KGHM Polska Miedź SA have signed a definitive agreement to initiate work towards deploying a first NuScale VOYGR small modular reactor power plant in Poland.

Poland's only operating research reactor - the MARIA reactor at the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Świerk - has been able to rapidly rearrange its work schedule to respond to a shortage of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 due to a fault at the High Flux Reactor in the Netherlands.

Westinghouse Electric Company has signed memorandums of understanding with ten Polish companies for cooperation on the potential deployment of AP1000 nuclear power plants in Poland and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.

The seaside towns of Lubiatowo and Kopalino in Poland's Choczewo municipality have been named as the preferred location for the country's first large nuclear power plant.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, BWXT Canada and Poland's Synthos Green Energy yesterday signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate in deploying BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Poland. SGE, together with its partners, plans to deploy at least 10 BWRX-300 SMRs in Poland by the early 2030s.

Support for nuclear energy in Poland is overwhelming with 78% of people supporting the technology as a response to climate change, according to opinion polling. It comes as the country experiences a series of developments towards nuclear deployment.

Polish companies Synthos Green Energy and PKN Orlen have signed an investment agreement to establish a joint venture for the deployment of a small modular reactor fleet in Poland. The Orlen Synthos Green Energy joint venture will commercialise micro modular reactor and SMR technology, in particular GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300.

Ministers from Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland (the Visegrad 4) met in Paks and agreed: "Without nuclear power it will not be possible to achieve the goals of climate neutrality." They called on the European Commission to approve its inclusion in the taxonomy of sustainable investments.

France's EDF has made an offer to the Polish government to build as many as six EPR units. A project of that size would decarbonise 40% of the country's electricity and avoid up to 55 million tons of CO2 per year, EDF said. The "non-binding preliminary offer" represents a range of options for Poland. It details the engineering, procurement and construction that would be needed for four to six EPR units, at either two or three sites. The EPR units would produce 1650 MWe each.

NuScale has signed a second agreement to consider its small reactors as a general replacement for coal units in Poland. The US small reactor vendor will support two energy firms, Poland-based Unimot and USA-based Getka, in their joint work to explore the possibility.

Two separate agreements have been announced between Polish companies and North American small modular reactor vendors and suppliers. A memorandum of understanding between Cameco, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, GEH SMR Technologies Canada Ltd and Synthos Green Energy will see those companies evaluate a potential Canadian supply chain for a fleet of BWRX-300 reactors in Poland. Separately, NuScale Power, KGHM Polska Miedź SA and Piela Business Engineering are to explore the deployment of NuScale's SMR technology to repower or repurpose existing coal-fired power plants.

Polish chemical producer Ciech will consider nuclear technologies to replace coal burnt for power and process heat in its plants. Ciech has signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate with Synthos Green Energy, which is already working with GE-Hitachi and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation.