Sticking with US Tech to Profit Polish Nuclear Energy, Envoy Says

Poland ought to keep on with US firms as the federal government plans a second location for its nascent civil nuclear power program, the outgoing envoy to Warsaw stated. 

The East European nation picked Westinghouse Electrical Co. reactors for its first atomic power plant, part of the plan to chop the nation’s reliance on coal. The federal government is because of begin talks about setting up a second nuclear facility early subsequent 12 months, with French firms wanting to play a job.

“There are efficiencies and economies of scale for those who preserve with the identical know-how and the identical builder in the second as the primary one,” US Ambassador Mark Brzezinski advised Bloomberg Information in an interview on Monday.

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“We’re underway, and it appears not environment friendly to remake the wheel to say the least,” Brzezinski, whose time period in Warsaw ends on Jan. 20, stated. 

The cope with Westinghouse and Bechtel Group Inc. — seen price greater than $30 billion — was closely lobbied by Washington and is about to strengthen relations between the NATO allies, based on the envoy. The US has began a nuclear engineering program in Warsaw and is lively in laying the “preliminary groundwork” for the plant, he stated.

The deal has already attracted some scrutiny. The European Fee final week began a probe into Poland’s plan to make use of state help to assist the funding, which is about to be accomplished by 2036. 

The venture — based mostly on the newest US know-how — is about to be the primary of its type within the European Union, consuming into the dominance of French firms, which now function greater than half of the bloc’s nuclear items.

The federal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has stored its choices open for an investor within the second plant since his ruling coalition got here to energy late final 12 months. His administration has sought a rapprochement with EU allies following eight years of fractious nationalist rule.

Brzezinski, who has made assist for democratic values a rallying cry of his three-year stint in Warsaw, stated the politics shouldn’t trump what makes larger financial sense for Poland’s power future. 

Over the following years, Warsaw is more likely to face a rising invoice for its dependence on coal in energy era, which can additionally erode its edge in attracting international traders.

“If the Polish individuals are requested to pay extra or to one way or the other have a extra complicated state of affairs by way of civil nuclear energy to ensure that to have, you already know, brief time period political beneficial properties — that doesn’t appear to me like the proper approach to roll,” the ambassador stated.