Poland is preparing the construction of its first nuclear power plant

Poland plans to allocate 4.6 billion zlotys ($1.2 billion) in the 2025 budget to begin preparations for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant, according to Bloomberg.

Poland needs both renewable energy and nuclear energy to reduce electricity prices, Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski recently said at an event in Olsztyn, in northeastern Poland.

Domanski revealed the initial expenses for what would be Poland's biggest investment ever, days before the Cabinet meeting in Warsaw, where the draft budget for next year would be approved.

Earlier this month, the Polish government estimated that it would need to secure around 60 billion zlotys of funding for the project between 2025 and 2030 before securing additional funding from the US, which will provide the technology for Poland's first nuclear power plant. . The plan of the Warsaw authorities predicts that the plant, located on the shore of the Baltic Sea, will start operating in about ten years.

• US-Sweden nuclear cooperation agreement

Sweden and the USA signed, at the beginning of August, a cooperation agreement to promote the development of nuclear energy in the Scandinavian state, according to AFP.

"It's a good thing for Sweden. It's a good thing for the United States, it's a good thing for the labor market and competitiveness," emphasized Ebba Busch, the Swedish Minister of Energy, quoted in a press release, according to Agerpres.

The two countries "will exchange experience" in areas such as the construction of small modular reactors (Small modular reactors - SMR), the development of nuclear fuels or the management of nuclear waste, according to the agreement, published on the website of the Swedish government.

"Sweden and the USA both have a long experience in nuclear energy and intend to develop new nuclear power plants", the press release states.

In November 2023, Stockholm said it wanted to "massively" produce nuclear power to decarbonize its economy and meet growing electricity demand. The officials from

Stockholm initially plans to start building the equivalent of two reactors by 2035 - with a total capacity of at least 2,500 MW - followed by a "massive expansion" by 2045.

Sweden currently operates, in three different plants, six reactors commissioned during the decade 1975-1985.

We remind you that, in July, the Secretary of Energy from the US Department of Energy declared, at the Business Forum of the Partnership for Transatlantic Cooperation in Energy and Climate, that the Biden-Harris administration is implementing, in the United States of America, a unprecedented industrial strategy for clean energy, which aims to invest in research and development to reduce the costs of emerging technologies in solar, wind and geothermal energy. Jennifer Granholm pointed out: "In the United States, the Biden-Harris administration is implementing an unprecedented industrial strategy for clean energy. We invest in research and development to reduce the costs of emerging technologies such as advanced nuclear and carbon capture - just as we did in the 2010s to reduce the cost of solar energy by 75% - and help de-risk investments in efficient solutions - such as solar, wind and geothermal energy - through tax incentives for manufacturing and production. This strategy works".

According to the quoted official, the Department of Energy has announced over $70 billion in clean energy grants and loans, stating: "The private sector has responded by announcing its own investments of $213 billion in clean energy production since taking office by president".

According to the US Secretary of Energy, in total, companies have announced plans for more than 700 new or expanded plants, and not just for US companies. Of all investments in US clean energy production between 2021 and 2023, more than half were either foreign companies or joint ventures.