While the decisions of both Germany and Switzerland to stop using nuclear made headlines, little has been written about Poland ‘s thinking about building two nuclear reactors, which would be build by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
The reactors could go online in 2020 if an agreement was signed in 2014. The capacity would reach 3,000 MW. The country relies on highly polluting coal for 94 percent of its electricity to date. (source)
As its electricity consumption is due to increase over the next decades significantly, and as something has to be done on climate change, it is willing to diversify its energy sources.
Meanwhile, Lithuania is thinking about replacing an old soviet-era reactor with a new model from GE as well as Bloomberg noted earlier this month.
As Bloomberg notes :
The Lithuanian project, GE’s record of on-time delivery and its presence in Poland should give it a competitive edge against rivals that may include Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC and France’s Areva SA, according to Daniel L. Roderick, senior vice president of nuclear plant projects.
“We will be very aggressive about our bid,” Roderick said in an interview in Warsaw on July 28. “Running two projects at the same time close to each other could help us reduce costs. Also, a lot of the workforce and materials for the Lithuanian plant will come from Poland,” he said.