Obstacles face Poland's move to nuclear energy (News Feature)

By Dominika Maslikowski Mar 3, 2010, 2:08 GMT

Opole, Poland - Nuclear energy is crucial for a quickly developing Poland to meet its growing needs, but obstacles remain to government plans to build the country's first power plant by 2020, experts say.

After years of hesitancy after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, nuclear energy is now 'unavoidable' if Poland wants to meet its growing energy demand, said former deputy economy Minister Jerzy Markowski, speaking at the Silesia International Economic Forum in Opole last week.

A resolution on nuclear energy was adopted by Poland's government last year, with plans to build two nuclear-powered electric generating plants. That resolution calls for opening of the first such plant by 2020.

The average energy needs of the Polish citizen is almost half the European Union, but consumption is forecast to grow by 90 per cent by 2025, according to the World Nuclear Association.

With that growing demand, the country faces an 'energy crisis' and possible blackouts if it does not move to nuclear power. Increasingly strict environmental regulations will make it impossible for Poland to continue to rely on coal-powered plants for electricity.

The European Union agreed in March 2007 on three objectives for 2020: to cut by 20 per cent greenhouse gas emissions, to improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent, and to get 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources.

Stricter environmental standards that will force the closure of existing generating plants and aging equipment mean Poland will eventually lose more than half of its existing electric generating capacity, Markowski said.

Markowski estimates Poland will lose 7,500 mega-watts by 2015, and lose another 7,500 mega-watts from 2015-2020.

Today Poland is capable of producing 24,000 mega-watts a year, Markowski said, and uses from 20,000 to 24,000 mega-watts per year.

Nuclear energy also makes sense as a way of diversifying Poland's sources of energy, said Janusz Steinhoff, former deputy prime minister.

Currently Poland is one of the world's most coal-reliant nations, second only to South Africa, with 93 per cent of its energy production coming from coal. It also depends on Russia for some 50 per cent of its gas.

A gas dispute in January 2009 that saw Russia cut off gas supplies to the Ukraine boosted the case for diversification.

Zygmunt Szulc, co-founder of a consortium of Polish companies studying how the plant would be built in Poland, said diversification would secure Poland's energy security if one or more of its energy supplies were cut off.

Szulc said the EU should adopt a common strategy on energy so the member states will have more clout in negotiations with suppliers.

Poland was to build its first nuclear power plant in Zarnowiec, northern Poland, but construction was canceled in 1990 amid swift economic changes that came with the collapse of Communism and growing protests after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Today some 70 per cent of Poles support building a nuclear power plant within 100 kilometres of their residencies, mainly because it is a cheaper alternative to coal and gas, according to a survey from September 2008 by economy website money.pl.

Critics include the Polish branch of Greenpeace, who say the money spent on building a costly nuclear power plant could be better spent on cheaper renewable energy like wind farms.

Poles in the past decade have forgotten the accident at the Chernobyl, Markowski said. They've also grown accustomed nuclear power plants in neighboring countries, he said.

Germany has 17 nuclear power plants, Czech Republic has six, Slovak Republic has four and Ukraine has 15, according to the European Nuclear Society,

But Markowski, Szulc and Steinhoff are doubtful Poland can find investors, choose a location and launch construction in time to meet the government timeline. Markowski said that Poland has only a few suitable locations near a water supply needed to cool the reactor.

Citing the many regulatory hurdles, Szulc said there must be a change in Polish law to streamline building the facility if the plant is to launch in 2020. Szulc anticipates there will be a hold-up, as locations have not yet been chosen for the plant.

On January 8 the Finance Ministry published a list of 28 locations that were nominated by organizations and firms to house the first nuclear power plant. PGE has not yet chosen a location.

The state-owned Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) - the main investor which is to build both plants - is currently studying possible locations and looking for other investors. The company wants to form a consortium to build and run the first plant, in which =it will have a 51-per-cent share.

The cost of a first plant has been estimated at 3.5 billion euros (4.7 billion dollars).

Some half-dozen companies from across Europe are reportedly being considered as investors, including Electricite de France, Vattenfall, Electrabel, E.ON and Czech CEZ, according to Poland's Institute of Atomic Energy, POLATOM.