La Polonia avvierà la costruzione della prima centrale nucleare dopo che l’UE avrà approvato 14 miliardi di euro di aiuti di Stato

Quite a short construction timeline.

Construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant is now set to begin after the European Commission approved Warsaw’s request to allocate 60 billion zloty (€14.2 billion) in state aid for the project.

The decision, which had been widely expected, was welcomed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who told a cabinet meeting that it means “construction will be able to start immediately”, as early as this month.

The nuclear power station, which will have a capacity of up to 3.75 gigawatts (GW), is to be built on Poland’s northern Baltic Sea coast. It is expected to start operating in the second half of the 2030s.

Although EU member states are free to decide on the composition of their energy mix, state aid must be approved by the European Commission, which assesses whether it is necessary, proportionate, and does not unduly distort market conditions.

Announcing its decision today, the European Commission said that Poland had demonstrated measures to meet these requirements, including shortening the period of direct price support from 60 to 40 years and ensuring that any profits beyond what is necessary to achieve a market rate are shared with the state.

The commission also noted that the nuclear project “plays a central role in Poland’s strategy to decarbonise electricity production”. Currently, over half of Poland’s electricity is generated from coal, the highest proportion in the EU, but Warsaw is seeking to shift towards nuclear and renewables.

The 60 billion zloty, to be spent on the project between 2025 and 2030, will cover about 30% of its total estimated costs, with the remainder to be financed through borrowing from financial institutions, mainly foreign. State guarantees will also cover 100% of the debt taken on to finance the project.

Among the entities that have already pledged financing are the[ United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)](https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/11/15/us-agency-signs-letter-of-intent-to-provide-1bn-financing-for-polands-first-nuclear-plant/) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Polish state firm Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) is tasked with building the plant, working alongside a consortium made up of the US firms Westinghouse, which is providing the technology, and Bechtel, which is the construction contractor.

PEJ’s CEO, Marek Woszczyk, welcomed the commission’s decision, saying that it now “paves the way for the signing of a contract for the construction of the power plant with the American consortium”.

Woszczyk noted that the state support for the project is “one of the largest, if not the largest, individual aid packages in the history of the EU”.

The expenditure was originally approved by Tusk’s government [in September last year](https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/09/05/poland-outlines-financing-plans-for-construction-of-first-nuclear-power-plant/), adopted by parliament in February, and [signed into](https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/03/26/poland-approves-financing-for-first-nuclear-plant-but-awaits-eu-approval/) law by then-President Andrzej Duda in March.

Nuclear energy enjoys broad public support in Poland, with polls showing backing ranging from 64% to 92.5%. It is also an issue on which there is rare consensus across Poland’s otherwise highly polarised political spectrum.

Westinghouse last *completed* building nuclear reactors in 2019