A second nuclear power plant in Poland can stand here. Research has started

PGE Maciej Górski, vice president of PGE Maciej Górski, announced the start of the research on Friday. Experts conducted by scientific and research centers concern seismics and hydrology.

The opportunities and challenges for the Bełchatów region related to the construction of a nuclear power plant were talked on Friday in Bełchatów at the conference “From coal to atom. Bełchatów of the future”. It was attended by representatives of the authorities of the energy group, politicians, local government officials, scientific experts and representatives of trade unions. Everyone declared support for the idea of ​​establishing a second nuclear power plant in the country in Bełchatów.

As reminded by the vice president of the Polish Energy Group Maciej Górski, Bełchatów was indicated as one of the two preferred locations for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Poland in the updated program of Polish nuclear energy (PPEJ).

– We worked together to make this kind of first step. For us, for PGE, it is a clear signal that we can and should start very serious work and very serious actions, both in terms of mobilizing resources and spending money to make Bełchatów choice as the second location for the nuclear power plant in Poland – said Górski.

The deputy head of PGE for operational affairs declared full energy support of the company for all preparatory and analytical works. The company has, among others Financulate the first necessary tests enabling further analytical work.

Read also: Where will the second nuclear power plant be built? Here are possible locations

– Over the next few months we will conduct analyzes that will say whether the critical conditions for the location of the nuclear power plant in Bełchatów are fulfilled and then we will go to the next decision gate. At this stage, Minister Wojciech Wrochna as a government representative for strategic energy infrastructure will be able to make decisions regarding the quantities of analytical work, the possibility of choosing a technological partner or an economic model – he added in an interview with PAP.

Górski announced that the first analyzes have already started. Experts are conducted, among others through the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, the Central Mining Institute and the National Geological Institute.

– The first set of activities has already been initiated. We are in a very active dialogue with the academic world. These are preliminary research, but we already have a lot of information to analyze. They relate to seismology, geology, hydrology, and the possibility of using existing infrastructure. The whole process works like a snowball, because one expertise gives an answer whether we can go to more, more complicated and time -consuming, such as wells, for example, he explained.

Jacek Kaczorowski, president of PGE Górnictwo and Conventional Energy, to which the power plant and mine in Bełchatów belong, emphasized in an interview with PAP that research is to break the thesis according to which Bełchatów, due to seismic conditions, cannot be taken into account for the location of large -scale nuclear energy.

He pointed out that the seismological station operating in the mine since 1980 recorded over 1.3 thousand. Seismic phenomena with local magnitude from 1 to 4.6 on the Richter scale, and in recent years little activity has been observed.

– Meanwhile, the regulations prevent the location of nuclear objects at the shocks, which are recorded at level 7 on the Richter scale. We already have the first conclusions in this respect, but they must be objectified analysis and expertise, which will be signed by scientific and research centers-he emphasized.

The head of PGE Giek also noted that Bełchatów already has water resources needed for the technological processes of the future nuclear power plant. The current mine drainage system is at 5.5 meters cubic/s, with the demand for a nuclear power plant at 2 to 4 meters./S.

– For this we have a shot at Warta in Zakrzówek Szlachecki (1.5 meters cubic/s), another potential shot in Osjaków (3 cubic meters/s) and a shot at Pilica in Bronisławów (3 cubic meters/s). It's a total of 13 cubic meters/s – he explained.

During the Friday conference, three potential locations for the creation of a nuclear power plant were also presented. They have a size of 100 to 300 hectares and are in the immediate vicinity of the current conventional power plant.

Conference participants emphasized that Bełchatów has all the advantages for the location of the second nuclear power plant in the country. This is already existing power output at 5.5 GW, water resources allowing for the location of a large-scale project with power in the first stage 3 GW, geological documentation, engineering and technical staff and commitment to the idea of ​​the social side. It is also an opportunity for the Bełchatów region to play a key role in the state's energy transformation.

Currently, 12,000 work in the Bełchatów complex and subsidiaries. people. The basis of a mining and energy operation of the complex is brown coal from the Bełchatów and Szczerców opencasts. The first of them is almost depleted, and the deposit in the Szczerców field will ensure the functioning of the mine and power plant for about a decade – by around 2035, the Belchatów Power Plant blocks are to be turned off successively from 2030. Their complete disconnection will cause a capacity of power in the Polish energy system by about 5.5 GW.

The program of Polish nuclear energy assumes the construction of two nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 6-9 GW by 100 % belonging. to the State Treasury Polskie Power Plant (PEJ) as an investor and operator.

The first of them will be built in the Lociatowo-Kopalino location in Pomerania. Bełchatów and Konin are two preferred locations taken into account as the construction site of the second nuclear power plant in Poland. Other locations are Kozienice and Połaniec.