Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe has officially confirmed that the most commercially sensitive stage of talks with the Bechtel–Westinghouse consortium is complete. The main commercial terms of the EPC contract for the Choczewo plant are now agreed, though the full deal is still being negotiated.
According to the state-owned project company, the understanding on the commercial package gives both sides a basis for further arrangements on the remaining conditions of cooperation. The head of PEJ, Marek Woszczyk, described the negotiating file as a very extensive one.
– Work on the contract is advanced, but commercial issues are of fundamental importance – it is to them that the very detailed contractual clauses refer. There is a lot of work to do – said Marek Woszczyk, president of Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe.
The commercial package covers the principal commercial and legal questions. It does not finalise the negotiations, but it opens the door to detailed provisions and annexes that follow from what has already been settled.
The terms agreed so far are the starting point for the cost model of the later stages of the EPC contract, the payment schedule and the split of responsibilities and investment risks. Both sides declare they want the whole negotiation finished by the end of this year.
Ground works under way in Choczewo
At the future plant site in the Choczewo commune, the second stage of preparatory works is running alongside deepened geological surveys. In August Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe handed the construction area over to Bechtel.
Contracts for work on the investment site are being signed with Polish enterprises, including Budimex, Doraco, Unihouse, MSA Security and Barg M.B. Gdańsk.
In March the company filed an application for a construction permit with the National Atomic Energy Agency. The investor is preparing documentation for further decisions in parallel, among them the building permit it plans to request next year.
Three AP1000 units and first power in 2036
The plant is being built at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino location in the Choczewo municipality. It will consist of three AP1000 reactors supplied by Westinghouse, with a combined capacity of 3750 MWe.
The American consortium Westinghouse-Bechtel is responsible for the construction. The first electricity from the plant is expected to flow into the Polish grid in 2036.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. Shutterstock/KongNoi/PEJ
