The companies said that the first phase of the evaluation process is being employed by Poland’s power company, Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), to study different international nuclear generating technologies in order to select a viable one.
This is further to a recent agreement between GEH and PGE to collaborate on Poland’s initiative to build commercial nuclear power plants.
SNC-Lavalin Polska and GEH are continuing discussions in support of PGE as the utility evaluates the potential of building up to four reactors based on one of two GEH reactor designs: the 1,350MWe advanced boiling water reactor or the 1,520MWe economic simplified boiling water reactor (ESBWR). ESBWR is GEH’s newest design offering passive safety systems.
Recently SNC-Lavalin Polska completed the new Patnow 460MW steam generating unit located at Konin in Poland.
Krzysztof Michalczuk, president of Warsaw-based power division headquarters at SNC-Lavalin Polska, said: “SNC-Lavalin has been working steadily in Poland for the last 12 years, and in Central and Eastern Europe since the 1960s in multiple product lines. We are very happy to have the opportunity to be part of this new initiative, and we will continue to grow the SNC-Lavalin Poland office well into the future.”
Poland plans to build up to four new nuclear power plants at two sites to help diversify its energy production, which relies on coal-based technologies. Nuclear energy is an option because it generates electricity with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
