The US Export-Import Bank and US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) may lend up to $4bn to Orlen Synthos Green Energy’s project to deploy small modular reactors (SMRs) in Poland. Orlen Synthos Green Energy has signed letters of intent with EXIM Bank for up to $3bn and IDFC for up to $1bn in a ceremony at the US ambassador’s residence in Warsaw. The aim is to build and deploy the first two SMRs to be designed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH). The company is hoping to develop around 20 GEH BWRX-300 SMRs.
Polish refiner PKN Orlen and chemicals company Synthos plan to deploy Poland's first SMRs by 2030. "We will present a total of 20 locations by the end of the year," Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek told a press conference, naming seven preliminary locations. "I believe we will build this reactor, we will build tens of reactors in Poland but not only in Poland," Obajtek said, adding that he believed the first investment would kick off in 2026-27. The first SMR is planned to be built by late 2028 or early 2029. Obajtek told AP that only nuclear power can guarantee energy security and keep the lights on when the wind isn't blowing or sun isn't shining. He said support from US financial institutions “shows the credibility of the process" of developing nuclear energy.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference that the country needed a “cheap, clean and reliable energy source” like the SMRs that will produce emission-free energy and be a driving force for the economy for decades to come.
Orlen Synthos Green Energy named seven shortlisted optimum locations for further geological surveys to site SMRs. The locations are: Ostrołęka, Włocławek, Stawy Monowskie, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Nowa Huta, Tarnobrzeg Special Economic Zone and Warsaw. The company said these are locations with, among others, "high energy-intensive production plants, as well as locations that are optimal for heating system purposes".
In December 2021, GE Hitachi, BWXT Canada and Synthos Green Energy (SGE) signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate in deploying BWRX-300 SMRs in Poland. Orlen Synthos Green Energy – a joint venture between chemical producers SGE and PKN Orlen – submitted an application to Poland's National Atomic Energy Agency on 8 July last year for an assessment of the BWRX-300, for which it holds the exclusive right in Poland.
Image courtesy of Orlen Synthos Green Energy
