Poland "determined" to develop nuclear energy, despite criticism

Feb 23, 2012, 15:54 GMT

Warsaw - Poland was 'determined' to develop a nuclear energy programme despite increasing opposition to a planned nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday.

'The growing scepticism towards nuclear energy does not change our stance on the matter,' Tusk said after a meeting with ministers.

Poland aims to launch its first 3,000-megawatt nuclear power plant by 2020 in a bid to diversify its energy sources and end its reliance on Russian oil and gas.

But there has been growing opposition to the plan, analysts said, especially after Japan's nuclear disaster last year at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Some 90 per cent of voters in Mielno province, northern Poland, voted in a February 12 referendum against a power plant being built in their village, Gaski, one of three proposed sites for the reactor.

Voters in the province said the reactor would scare off visitors to their Baltic coast resorts.

Hundreds demonstrated on Thursday wearing yellow T-shirts reading Atom Stop! during a meeting between town officials in nearby Koszalin and top utility PGE, which would build the reactor.

PGE officials have said they would not build the power plant without local approval.