Preparations are in full swing for the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant, to be built in the Pomeranian region. According to the government’s schedule, construction is set to begin in 2028, with the first reactor expected to go online in 2036. The National Atomic Energy Agency (Państwowa Agencja Atomistyki, PAA) is also preparing to oversee the construction, commissioning, and operation of the new facility. Nuclear safety and radiological protection are key concerns in this process.
“Preparations for supervising Poland’s first nuclear power plant can be divided into three main aspects: strengthening our workforce and building competencies. First, we’re hiring specialists who will carry out supervision. Second, we need to train them—primarily in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the nuclear regulatory authority of the technology supplier’s country. This is the first pillar of our preparation for nuclear oversight,”
explains Andrzej Głowacki, President of the PAA, in an interview with Newseria.
Last week, the head of the PAA participated in a bilateral meeting with representatives of the U.S. nuclear industry. He emphasized that the agency is intensifying cooperation with regulators in countries that have advanced nuclear technologies, including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC)—the regulator of the country supplying the technology for Poland’s first nuclear power plant. The visit by the American delegation, which included U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, was also an opportunity to sign the Engineering Development Agreement (EDA) between Polish Nuclear Power Plants (Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe) and the American consortium Westinghouse-Bechtel. The EDA enables continued engineering work in Pomerania and allows the project to move forward, including contract negotiations for construction.
“The second aspect of our preparation is infrastructure and technical strengthening. This includes equipping the agency with appropriate computational codes, and expanding the network of early warning stations for radioactive contamination. The goal is to monitor radiation levels across the country,”
says Głowacki during the European Economic Congress in Katowice.
“The third aspect is building a system of technical and organizational support. This means authorizing domestic and foreign institutions to assist the agency in assessing and supervising the power plant’s construction.”
The PAA will be involved throughout the entire lifecycle of the nuclear facility. During the licensing process, it intervenes at an early stage—the agency president issues the construction permit.
“After that, the agency will oversee the investor’s activities. As the independent nuclear regulatory authority, we will verify all developments on the construction site, and later during the commissioning and operation phases,”
adds Głowacki.
Before issuing a construction permit, PAA experts must assess whether the project complies with Polish law and international standards, including those established by the IAEA. The licensing process will involve extensive analysis, including simulations using computational codes. The agency will work with authorized expert laboratories and research institutions.
A nuclear power plant is a complex system of buildings and equipment. Certain components are especially crucial for nuclear safety. Agency experts will need to ensure that these systems and structural elements perform their functions as intended and are designed and built to meet stringent safety requirements.
“Nuclear safety is undoubtedly the most important factor guiding the construction and use of nuclear energy. With each new generation, nuclear plants are becoming safer. This includes passive safety systems—those that do not rely on electricity but instead use natural physical processes,”
says the PAA president.
The agency emphasizes that the fundamental safety concept for nuclear power plants is the principle of defense-in-depth, which involves multiple, independent safety layers. The idea is not to rely on a single line of defense—if one layer fails, the next is ready to contain or mitigate the consequences.
The five levels of defense are:
- High-quality design and construction of the plant, along with prioritizing safety over production throughout its operation.
- Monitoring and control by systems and staff to detect any deviations from normal operations and respond quickly.
- Safety systems to manage design-based accidents, prevent more severe incidents, and minimize radiological consequences (e.g., emergency cooling systems, reactor containment).
- Special safety systems designed to mitigate severe accidents, prevent hydrogen explosions, and protect containment even in the case of core meltdown.
- Mitigation of off-site consequences, including public health protection through intervention measures and contamination monitoring.
Cybersecurity is also critical. As nuclear plants are part of critical infrastructure, they are increasingly targeted by hackers.
“Every new technological solution comes with both advantages and risks. The use of IT systems introduces cyberattack vulnerabilities. That’s why cybersecurity is always analyzed before any such system is implemented in a nuclear project,”
notes the PAA president.
The PAA also plays a key role in the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Its responsibilities are identical to those in large-scale nuclear energy.
“The PAA president will also oversee the deployment and operation of SMRs in Poland. We are currently in discussions with several investors interested in developing SMR projects in the country,”
concludes Andrzej Głowacki.
