Poland has been trying to build a nuclear plant since 1982. On Sept. 23 it got closer than it ever has.
The Bechtel-Westinghouse consortium and Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe, the Polish state developer, agreed the main commercial terms of the engineering, procurement and construction contract. Both sides say they intend to conclude the remaining negotiations by the end of the year. The scope is three Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized water reactors totalling 3,750 MWe at Lubiatowo-Kopalino, in Choczewo commune on the Baltic coast.
The site is already live
This is not a paper milestone. Bechtel took over the site in August 2026 and site preparation and geological surveys are running now. ENR reports first nuclear concrete targeted for the fourth quarter of 2028, with operation in the 2036 to 2038 range.
The day after the terms agreement, Bechtel awarded a consortium led by Polimex Mostostal a contract ENR values at $80 million for two module-assembly buildings, each roughly 423 by 180 by 144 feet. Those buildings are where AP1000 modules get put together before they go into the reactor building, and they have to exist well before first concrete. Awarding them now is consistent with the 2028 date being real rather than aspirational.
Local content, with a disputed number
Bechtel says nearly 200 Polish nationals are on the project team with around 100 more being recruited. On Polish contractor spend the sources diverge sharply: Bechtel’s release puts it above PLN 1 billion, roughly $250 million, while ENR reports Polish firms have won more than $570 million across 10-plus contracts this year. Those are different denominators, not necessarily a contradiction, but nobody should quote one and cite the other.
The cost figures nobody has confirmed
ENR cites about $52 billion for the programme, attributed to a European Commission estimate, with roughly $15.8 billion in authorized state capitalization and an expectation that 70% of costs come from debt. None of those numbers appear on the Bechtel or PEJ release pages. A European Commission estimate is a state-aid assessment, not a contract price, and the contract price doesn’t exist yet because the negotiation isn’t finished.
What Bechtel’s year says about the position
Bechtel is taking on a first-of-a-kind national nuclear programme in the same year it walked off the Natrium reactor in Wyoming and filed a WARN notice for 200. The two things aren’t in tension. Natrium was a sodium-cooled demonstration with an evolving design; the AP1000 has been built eight times, twice in Georgia and four times in China, and the design is frozen.
That distinction is the whole bet. Poland is buying a reactor that has already absorbed its first-of-a-kind cost overruns somewhere else. Whether a European supply chain that hasn’t poured nuclear concrete in decades can execute against a proven design is the part the 2028 date will test.