Poland, US firms sign contract to design nuclear power plant

WARSAW (Reuters) -U.S. firms Westinghouse Electric and Bechtel signed a contract on Monday with Poland's state-owned Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ) to continue designing the country's first nuclear power plant, after an initial agreement expired at the end of March.

Poland is seeking to reduce its reliance on coal and chose Westinghouse in 2022 to build the plant on the Baltic Sea coast. Warsaw estimates the project's cost at 192 billion zloty ($51 billion).

"I believe it's the start of a long-term nuclear cooperation between the United States and Poland that will involve building future reactors, both here in Poland and with other nations across Europe," U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said during the signing ceremony.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that he and Wright discussed the future of small nuclear reactors and cooperation on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Poland relies on U.S. LNG to diversify its gas supplies.

PEJ still needs to negotiate an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with the builder but that requires European Commission approval for public aid worth 60 billion zloty ($16 billion) that the project is set to benefit from.

Poland aims to get the EU nod for the project by the end of the year to start the construction of the first unit of the plant in 2028 and complete it in 2036, four years later than initially planned.

The plant, which already has backing from U.S. and Canadian financial institutions is due to be fully operational by 2040.

($1 = 3.7670 zlotys)

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki, Anna Koper; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)