Poland seeks preliminary works permit for nuclear plant

Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) has applied for permission to carry out preliminary construction works at the site of Poland’s first nuclear power station, extending the enabling programme for the planned three-reactor Lubiatowo-Kopalino development. The state project company submitted its application to the Pomeranian Voivode on 30 October. The proposed works involve substantial excavation and supporting infrastructure, including parts of the cooling-water system, before the principal reactor construction phase begins.

The application relies on a preliminary construction category introduced through Poland’s July 2026 nuclear investment law amendments. It allows specified civil and infrastructure works to be authorised separately from the main reactor buildings, while maintaining the permits applicable to each activity. PEJ has therefore asked the Pomeranian Voivode to approve a defined package of earthworks and supporting installations. The application remains under consideration, with construction subject to the authority’s decision and the conditions attached to it.

The proposed earthworks include deep excavations at the positions intended for the three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. Securing the excavation walls and managing groundwater inflow will help establish stable working areas ahead of later foundation construction. Site conditions will determine the excavation support and drainage methods used during execution. Bechtel’s ongoing land and offshore geological surveys provide information for those designs, while the early works application establishes the proposed legal scope for undertaking the works.

Circulating water infrastructure is another substantial element of the application. PEJ plans to construct onshore portions of the seawater intake and discharge system that will eventually support cooling at the generating station. The Polish nuclear regulator has classified the relevant part of that system as having no significant effect on nuclear safety or radiation protection, allowing it to be included in the separate non-nuclear works category. Intake and outfall channels are intended to pass beneath the beach and Baltic seabed using trenchless construction methods.

The scheme also covers internal access roads, a basin for collecting rainwater and snowmelt, and launch chambers for tunnel boring machines. These works form a connected civil engineering sequence: road access allows plant and materials to reach work fronts, surface-water management protects those work areas, and launch chambers provide controlled entry points for tunnelling equipment. Their delivery will have to be coordinated with the excavations and the future routes of the cooling-water pipelines, rather than treated as isolated site improvements.

Preparation is already underway at Lubiatowo-Kopalino, where Bechtel is progressing the second stage of the site programme and conducting more detailed geological investigations. The contractor’s work on land and offshore informs foundation design, tunnelling arrangements, and the sequence of later construction packages. The October submission seeks approval for additional specified operations alongside that existing programme; it does not change the status of work authorised under earlier preparatory permissions.

Poland’s National Atomic Energy Agency is assessing a separate application for the nuclear construction licence, submitted by PEJ on 31 March 2026. That process covers safety requirements for the nuclear installation, whereas the voivode’s current application concerns defined preliminary works. The July amendments enable those activities to move through their own administrative route where separate nuclear regulatory permission is not required. The distinction allows site preparation and nuclear safety assessment to proceed in parallel under their respective controls.

PEJ expects to submit an application for the main building permit in 2027, with first nuclear concrete currently planned for the fourth quarter of 2028. The earlier preparatory approvals and the newly requested excavation permission feed into that sequence by preparing ground conditions, temporary access, and cooling-water interfaces before the reactor buildings are erected. They leave the principal building permit and nuclear construction authorisation as separate decisions. Equipment procurement also has to run alongside the civil programme because some reactor components require lengthy manufacturing periods.

Three AP1000 pressurised water reactors are planned for the Baltic coast site, with combined installed electrical capacity of 3,750MWe. Westinghouse is supplying the reactor technology and is working with Bechtel on delivery. On 8 October, PEJ authorised Westinghouse to begin ordering long-lead components for the first unit. Early procurement is intended to align fabrication with later construction phases, when lifting, installation, and testing of major plant equipment must follow the availability of completed structures and access routes.

The current programme targets commercial operation of the first reactor in 2036, followed by the other two units in 2037 and 2038. Those dates depend on the completion of distinct civil, mechanical, electrical, and nuclear commissioning phases. The proposed groundworks can prepare excavation areas and infrastructure in advance, but the later installation and testing programmes will determine when each unit can generate electricity. The project therefore remains in preparation despite the growing volume of engineering activity at the site.

The Pomeranian Voivode will now consider the preliminary works application while PEJ and Bechtel continue their existing preparation and surveys. If approval is granted, the excavation, drainage, access, tunnel launch, and onshore cooling-water packages can advance within the agreed scope. PEJ is also progressing the nuclear regulator’s separate review, long-lead procurement, and its planned 2027 main building permit submission ahead of the first reactor construction phase in 2028.