Polish legal framework for nuclear small modular reactors
Krzysztof Cichoki
Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak, Warsaw
krzysztof.cichocki@skslegal.pl
Introduction
Poland's energy strategy is heavily influenced by the European Union's (EU) climate and energy policies. As a result of the EU's ambitious climate targets to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, Poland is striving to move towards a low-carbon economy. Despite the significant development of renewable energy in recent years, the majority of Poland's energy still comes from fossil fuels.
The national energy transition offers opportunities for the development of small modular reactor (SMR) technologies, which can contribute to increasing the share of low carbon energy sources in the Polish energy mix. The introduction of nuclear energy and the preparation of the relevant infrastructure is one of the objectives of the Polish Energy Policy until 2040, a strategic document setting the framework for the energy transition in Poland.
However, the realization of SMR investments requires a favorable regulatory environment that would facilitate the investment process. Currently, Polish legislation does not prohibit implementing small modular reactors, but it does not contain specific provisions regarding this type of projects. Accordingly, Polish legislation provides for the same requirements for large nuclear power plants and SMRs.
Below are the most important national regulations for the construction and operation of SMRs.
Atomic Law and the Nuclear Special Act
The provisions governing the use of nuclear energy and nuclear safety activities are mainly contained in the Atomic Energy Act of 29 November 2000 (Atomic Law). However, the provisions of this law are tailored to large nuclear power plants and do not provide specific regulations that take into account the needs of SMRs. According to the definition of the Atomic Law, a nuclear power plant is "a facility for generating electricity or heat from nuclear fuel for purposes other than research". Therefore, regardless of whether an SMR or a large nuclear power plant is being developed, the investment process will follow the same rules.
To date, changes to the nuclear investment legislation have usually been driven by the authorities' plans to build a nuclear power plant. The idea of building a nuclear power plant in Poland was the subject of numerous discussions in 2009-2011. Due to the lack of detailed regulations governing the investment process for the construction of this type of investment, a draft special nuclear act was prepared. The purpose of the special act was to regulate in one place all the requirements of the investment process, including the order and type of permits required to start construction, and to facilitate the entire process. Thus, on 1 July 2011, the Law of 29 June 2011 on the Preparation and Realization of Investments in Nuclear Power Plants and Accompanying Investments (the Nuclear Special Act) entered into force. The Nuclear Special Act establishes the rules and conditions for the preparation and implementation of investments in the construction of nuclear power facilities as well as related investments and is applied to the extent that it is not regulated by the Atomic Law.
Although no nuclear power plants have been built in Poland to date, the threat to the country's energy security posed by the war in Ukraine and the need for an energy transition have brought the issue back to the fore. The new plans to build Poland's first nuclear power plant triggered the amendment of the Nuclear Special Act. On 13 April 2023, an amendment to the special act came into force, which significantly changed the existing provisions.
[1] Unfortunately, among the new provisions, there were no regulations dedicated exclusively to SMRs.
The amendment to the Nuclear Special Act mainly changed the order of obtaining permits. In the previous wording of the regulations, the first stage of the process was the procedure for determining the location of the investment, which ended with the issuance of a location decision. Under the current regulations, the first stage of the investment process is obtaining a main decision. The main decision determines the permitted parameters of the investment, in particular: the maximum installed capacity, the permitted types of reactor technology, the municipalities in which the location of the investment is permitted.
According to the Atomic Law and the Nuclear Special Act, the following permits, among others, must be obtained prior to the construction of an SMR project:
- Main Decision (determines the permissible parameters of the project);
- Environmental Decision (determines the environmental conditions of the project);
- Localisation Decision (determines the location of the investment);
- Construction authorization (required on the basis of the qualification of the activity as exposed to radioactivity).
The amendment also introduced a new obligation to pay fees for the issuance of decisions by individual authorities. This amendment is seen as positive, as it also makes it possible to verify that an investor planning to carry out an investment has a stable financial background.
Barriers to the development of SMRs in Poland
The main barriers to the development of SMRs in Poland are the high investment costs, the complicated and lengthy procedure for obtaining approvals and construction permits, the lack of experience in implementing this type of investment and the lack of trained personnel. Despite the existing investment barriers, measures have been taken to implement the first SMRs in Poland. The activities of Orlen Synthos Energy (OSGE) and KGHM are considered the most advanced. OSGE plans to build General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC's BWRX-300 MWe SMRs with an electrical capacity of 300 MW. It is estimated that the first SMR could be built in Poland before the end of this decade. OSGE has already obtained six main decisions and has three procedures pending.
The European Commission has also established an Industrial Alliance for Small Modular Reactors to facilitate and accelerate the development of this technology in the European Union. One of the key objectives of the Alliance is to strengthen the nuclear supply chain in Europe.
The issue of SMRs is widely discussed in Poland, due to the need to decarbonize the Polish economy and the search for new sources of carbon-free energy with stable generation profile. The current obstacle to the implementation of SMR investments is the lack of detailed regulations dedicated to this technology. Identifying SMRs with large nuclear power plants makes the investment process long and complicated. In Poland, it is necessary to introduce new regulations dedicated to SMRs, which would facilitate and accelerate their development and construction while maintaining appropriate safety requirements.
Note
[1] The amendments were introduced by the Act of 9 March 2023 amending the Act on the preparation and implementation of investments in nuclear power facilities and accompanying investments and certain other acts.