Entering the future of nuclear energy in Central and Eastern Europe—Poland

A nuclear power plant’s carbon footprint is miniscule compared to units based on fossil fuels. If all the world’s coal and natural gas plants were replaced with low-carbon nuclear power units, global CO2 emissions would be reduced by nearly 13 billion tons annually.

Currently, Poland operates only a single research reactor named Maria. However, it is not used for electricity production.

However, since the Polish cabinet’s 2005 decision to embrace energy diversification—and move away from its heavy reliance on coal—the prospect for building new, new-generation nuclear plants (including SMRs developed by GEH) in Poland has never seemed more realistic.

Nuclear energy has been a safe source of energy for more than 60 years. It is one of the most closely monitored and regulated technologies in the world. It actually has the lowest rate of fatalities and injuries per unit of supplied electricity compared to all other available technologies. Cyber security and physical standards are at the highest available level, Nuclear facilities are also monitored 24 hours a day.

The reactors themselves are built to strident safety requirements, constantly monitored, and layered with many redundancy systems to maintain unparalleled safety parameters.

The Polish National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) acts as Poland’s nuclear regulator. It is supervised by the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment and is responsible for overseeing nuclear facilities and radwaste repositories, assessing the national radiation situation, and controlling occupational radiation exposure.

Read about PAA President Andrzej Głowacki’s recently released opinion of the BWRX-300—an important phase of the pre-licensing process.

Many uses for nuclear technology exist beyond power generation, including:

• Using radiation to kill bacteria, insects, and parasites that can cause food-borne diseases.
• Production of new crop varieties.
• Industrial inspection, examining the molecular and macroscopic structure of materials.
• Nuclear gauges that use a radioactive source to detect item characteristics (that is, thickness, density, or chemical makeup).
• Desalination to produce clean drinking water.
• Fuel for various modes of travel.
• Numerous consumer products—from smoke detectors and cosmetics to frying pans and photocopiers.

There is also research into producing steam from nuclear reactors for industrial applications and district heating systems.