New Era For Nuclear

By Simon West

Despite their white sandy beaches, rolling dunes and lush pine forests, the unspoiled seaside towns of Łeba and Dębki in northern Poland have managed to remain a well-guarded secret among locals and the few Polish tourists that visit during the region’s balmy summer months.

Łeba and Dębki’s seclusion, though, may be short-lived: nestled between the two towns lies Lubiatowo-Kopalino, the site selected in late-2021 by Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe, or PEJ, Poland’s state nuclear power company, as the preferred location for the country’s first large-scale nuclear power plant, or NPP.

If built, this cloistered corner on Poland’s Baltic Sea coast about 150 kilometres northwest of the breakbulk-handling Port of Gdansk will be front and centre of the Polish government’s six to nine gigawatt electrical, or GWe, nuclear energy programme.

Poland’s atomic ambitions stretch back decades – construction of an earlier NPP, known as Żarnowiec, was abandoned in 1990 in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster. But climate change targets and government plans to phase out coal-fired power stations by 2049 is giving this latest project extra drive.

A major milestone was reached in late February after the PEJ signed a contract with US-headquartered Westinghouse for front-end engineering, early procurement work and programme development. Westinghouse had already been chosen to supply the technology and build the plant, which would feature “multiple” AP1000 reactors, the US company said.

So far, Westinghouse has inked MoUs with 35 companies in Poland and 75 elsewhere in the region to cooperate on the installation of the proposed Baltic plant and other potential AP1000 projects in Eastern Europe.

US firms Bechtel and GE Steam Power have also been brought on board to develop the project. Building work at Lubiatowo-Kopalino is slated to begin in 2026, with start-up by 2033.

“There is going to be a lot of work,” said Lukasz Chwalczuk, president of the Polish Heavy Transport Association. “Most of the equipment will be shipped to Gdansk, and then the 150 kilometres (to Lubiatowo-Kopalino) will have to travel via road as there is no rail to the plant. There are no mountains, and no lakes or big rivers for example, so the terrain is quite easy. Our members will hope to get a lot of new projects delivered.”


POLAND POWERS AHEAD

Poland’s nuclear plans are not limited to Lubiatowo-Kopalino.

Authorities announced in October that Polish power producers ZE PAK and PGE had paired up with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to assess the feasibility of installing an NPP in Patnow, central Poland, using South Korean APR-1400 technology.

KHNP said it was in the process of drawing up proposals covering the construction, costs and financing of the project.

Poland is just one of several European nations planning to build new nuclear power facilities or expand existing ones. David Durham, president of energy systems at Westinghouse, told Breakbulk that Europe was “definitely a key region”, with several countries interested in its AP1000 reactors.

Logistics specialists are noting a rise in NPP announcements.

Pointing to developments worldwide, Ben Cunnington, senior key account manager at Switzerland-based deugro, said the company had “never been busier with project and technical proposals… than we are today”.

According to the Energy Industries Council, or EIC, 21 large-scale projects and nine so-called small modular reactor, or SMR, projects are in progress throughout the continent, although more than half are still in their feasibility and conceptual design stage.

Globally, some 56 NPPs are currently being built, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. China and India lead the pack with 16 and 8 projects, respectively, under construction.

For some analysts, this resurgence in nuclear power is being driven by the conflict in Ukraine, which continues to wreak havoc on energy markets.

“Russia’s invasion has reinforced how fragile fossil fuel supply chains are, and the economic impact of disruption to those supplies,” said Dr. Jonathan Cobb, senior communication manager at the World Nuclear Association. “More countries are developing plans for new nuclear build to provide greater energy security and reliability. Even countries such as Belgium and Germany with nuclear phase-out policies have delayed those phase-outs to reduce their short-term reliance on imported gas.”


PUBLIC SUPPORT SHIFTS

Public aversion towards nuclear power – fomented by the disasters in Chernobyl, Fukushima and elsewhere – also appears to be softening.

A poll conducted last year in Poland by research group CBOS showed support among the public for more nuclear energy had reached a record-high of 75 percent, up from 39 percent in 2021. Just 13 percent were opposed, down from 45 percent.

“The war in Ukraine, with its negative effect on the availability and price of fuel, has contributed to a greater acceptance of plans for nuclear power stations in Poland,” CBOS said.

Some governments in the region have indicated that projects would only proceed after a public vote in favour, as is the case in the central European country of Slovenia.

There, authorities are mulling construction of a second reactor at its 696-megawatt-electric, or MWe, capacity Krško nuclear power station – known as NEK – a project that would help offset the country’s phase-out of coal by 2033.

The existing plant, located in the municipality of Krško, eastern Slovenia, is operated by Nuklearna elektrarna Krško, a joint venture between Slovenia’s state-run energy company GEN Energija and Croatian power producer Hrvatska elektroprivreda.

NEK began commercial operations 40 years ago when Slovenia and Croatia were part of the former Yugoslavia. The plant is powered by a Westinghouse two-loop pressurized water reactor, or PWR, a type of reactor that uses water as a neutron moderator and coolant.

Earlier this year, the Slovenian government issued an environmental approval to extend the operating life of NEK until 2043. The plant covers a fifth of Slovenia’s electrical consumption and about 15 percent of Croatia’s.

According to GEN Energija, the proposed second unit would be a PWR with a generating capacity of about 1,100 MWe. The country’s infrastructure ministry in 2021 issued an energy permit for the project – dubbed JEK2 – paving the way for licencing procedures to begin.

A final green light to build the reactor is expected by 2027.


MAPPING SLOVENIA'S TERRAIN

Slovenia-based breakbulk specialist Comark has been moving cargo in and out of NEK since 1999. In a recent move for Siemens Energy, Comark shipped industrial components including a turbine rotor and casing weighing about 300 tonnes from the US and Germany.

“The rotor was transported multimodal due to its weight and restrictions on European roads,” said Klemen Butala, commercial director and head of road freight at Comark. “We transported it from a German port to a Slovakian port via the Danube, and from there by road to its final destination in Krško, where the last mile was carried out with an SPMT.”

Transporting heavy units to NEK has been no easy task: new roads have been built from Slovenia’s Port of Koper on the Adriatic Sea to Krško, bridges have been reinforced and asphalt viaducts refurbished.

Comark’s project manager Benjamin Herman said the company had carried out route surveys “in almost every corner” of Slovenia. “We know all the limits, critical points and bottlenecks of Slovenian infrastructure. That gives us the confidence that we will find the most optimal solution to deliver all cargo related to JEK2.”

In the Czech Republic, the government is looking to add new capacity at the Dukovany and Temelín NPPs, part of plans to replace older reactors in operation that are expected to be shut down from 2035.

Czech state-controlled utility ČEZ revealed late last year that three companies – France’s EDF, Westinghouse and KHNP – had placed initial bids to build a new reactor unit at Dukovany. Final bids would be submitted in September, ČEZ said in a statement, with the winner announced in 2024. The new reactor should be up and running by 2036, the utility added.


EUROPE MAKES MOVES

Western European nations too are making some major announcements.

The Netherlands is planning to install two new reactors by 2035 at the Borssele NPP, while France’s Emmanuel Macron last year said EDF would build six new reactors by 2050, with the option for a further eight.

According to the EIC, eight NPPs in Europe have begun onsite engineering or construction.

The Hinkley Point C power station being built in Somerset, southwest England, is one of the region’s biggest civil engineering projects. The plant, slated to begin operations in mid-2027, will boast two PWRs providing 3,200 MWe of generating capacity. It is being developed by EDF Energy, the UK division of EDF.

The project reached a major milestone in February after taking delivery of one of its PWRs – the first civil nuclear reactor to arrive in the UK for more than 30 years.

Osprey was tasked with moving the French-made unit by barge from Avonmouth Docks in Bristol along the River Parrett to Combwich Wharf, a purpose-built dock designed to support the construction of Hinkley Point C.

The UK-based operator then used SPMTs to deliver the PWR to Hinkley Point.

EDF is also developing the 3,200 MWe Sizewell C plant in Suffolk on the UK’s southern coast. The project, being built next to Sizewell B, is slated to start in 2024, with construction taking up to 12 years.


TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTS NUCLEAR GROWTH

Meanwhile, the emergence of SMRs – advanced reactors that have a generating capacity of up to 300 MWe – could translate into even more work for breakbulk.

According to the IAEA, these pre-fabricated units can be built and then shipped and installed on site, making them more affordable than larger plants that are often custom designed for a specific location. Their small and modular size could be used to repower coal-fired facilities, or provide baseload power for wind and solar, for example.

The technology was given a boost in January after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified the design of Portland-based NuScale Power’s 50 MWe advanced light-water SMR – the federal regulator’s first-ever endorsement of a such a module.

Standing 76 feet tall and 15 feet wide, NuScale’s reactor could eventually generate 77 MWe of electricity – about 10 percent of the power of a conventional reactor. The company’s “VOYGR” plant could house up to 12 SMRs to produce 924 MWe of carbon-free energy.

Scott Bailey, vice president of supply chain at NuScale, told Breakbulk the NRC’s certification was an “historic step” towards a clean energy future, and made its VOYGR concept a “near-term deployable solution”.

The Portland-headquartered developer, which is majority-owned by Texas-based industrial contractor Fluor, has already inked 19 domestic and international agreements to deploy its SMRs in 12 countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.

Its first SMR is slated to be up and running by 2029, reaching full operations the following year.

For Cobb, the future of nuclear power projects is no zero-sum game, with the construction of both large and small reactors needed for energy transition, he said.

“Fossil fuel energy security concerns have only strengthened the existing global goal to decarbonize energy supplies to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. We are seeing greater realization worldwide that effective action on climate change is going to need a substantial contribution from nuclear energy.”

Breakbulk Europe 2023 will be hosting a "Nuclear Power Projects in Europe: Infrastructure, Feasibility and Collaboration" main stage session on Wednesday 7 June. Click here for this year's full programme.

PHOTOS
TOP: Osprey delivers reactor for UK's Hinkley Point C NPP. CREDIT: EDF
SECOND: turbine generator at the NEK nuclear plant, Slovenia. CREDIT: NEK
THIRD: Osprey loads reactor for UK's Hinkley Point C NPP. CREDIT: EDF