Polish copper and silver producer KGHM Polska Miedź SA has signed a letter of intent with the Legnica Special Economic Zone (LSEZ). The Letter promises cooperation in research and development projects and investment initiatives related to small modular reactors (SMRs). The two companies will discuss the possibility of potential joint involvement in the implementation of investment projects in the field of SMRs.
The cooperation between KGHM and LSEZ will include analysis of available SMR technologies and identifying best practices in the field of conducting research and measurement for the purpose of recognizing the geological and geotechnical conditions of SMR locations. Joint actions will also be undertaken to support the development of SMRs in Poland. This includes making changes to legislation related to public financing of such projects.
In February of 2022, KGHM signed a definitive agreement with NuScale Power of the U.S. to start work on deploying a first NuScale VOYGR SMR power plant in Poland as early as 2029. In July of 2022, KGHM submitted an application to Poland's National Atomic Energy Agency to evaluate NuScale's SMR technology and prepare a site study. KGHM is waiting for the Ministry of Climate and Environment to issue a general opinion on selected conditions enabling the construction of a plant consisting of six VOYGR modules.
The VOYGR nuclear power plant will be constructed in Poland, in cooperation with NuScale. Each of the six VOYGR modules will have an installed capacity of seventy-seven megawatts. NuScale’s SMR technology is the first to have been granted approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in August 2020. NuScale offers VOYGR nuclear power plants in four, six and twelve module configurations.
Tomasz Zdzikot is the President of KGHM. He said, “KGHM is a company with a modern approach to transformation and pro-climate solutions. We are implementing our Climate Policy, the goal of which is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. We prove that small modular reactors are not only a vision of the future, but also a real answer to the energy needs of large industry. Cooperation with LSEZ is another step in the implementation of our assumptions.”
Przemysław Bożek is the President of LSEZ. He said, “Available, safe, ecological and price-stabilized energy is our goal, which I believe can be achieved even faster in partnership with KGHM. It also strengthens the competitive advantage of our subregion as a place not only good for investing, but also stable, which is especially important for business. We have chosen the direction of 'new technologies' and we are consistently implementing it. The letter of intent that we signed with an experienced partner is one of the elements of the energy transformation of LSEZ.”
The LSEZ is located in the Dolnośląskie Province in south-western Poland. It has been operating since 1997 and is now host to eighty-three companies and more than twenty thousand jobs.
In July of 2022, LSEZ signed a letter of intent with U.S. SMR developer Last Energy and Poland’s DB energy for the construction of a power plant consisting of ten SMRs with a combined capacity of two hundred megawatts. The agreement also included a power purchase agreement that will have a minimum length of twenty-four years for LSEZ and its tenants.