WARSAW -Polish mining group KGHM and nuclear technology firm NuScale Power on Monday signed a deal to start deploying small modular reactors in Poland, aiming to have the first operational as soon as 2029.
Poland relies on coal for around 80% of its electricity production, but it is banking on nuclear power to help it cut emissions and diversify its energy sources as tensions with major gas producer Russia mount.
KGHM Chief Executive Marcin Chludzinski and John Hopkins, the CEO of NuScale Power, signed the deal in Washington on Monday in the presence of U.S. and Polish government officials, including Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin.
The agreement "gives us hope that within 7-8 years, the first SMR reactors will be able to start operating in Poland," Sasin said.
In an earlier interview with the Biznesalert.pl website, he said the plans include developing and building four small modular SMR nuclear reactors, with an option to expand to 12, with an installed capacity of about 1 gigawatt.
"This is potentially the largest investment of this type in the world," he told the website in comments published on Monday.
KGHM, one of the world's biggest copper and silver producers, is not the only company looking to roll out small-scale reactors in Poland.
Two Polish businessmen - Zygmunt Solorz, the owner of media and telecommunications group Cyfrowy Polsat, and Michal Solowow, who owns chemicals company Synthos - also plan to build small modular reactors together.
Polish refiner PKN Orlen has also announced a deal with Synthos Green Energy to invest in small and micro nuclear reactors.
