Poland Starts Ordering Long-Lead Components for Its First AP1000 Reactor

Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ), the state-owned developer of Poland’s first nuclear power plant, has instructed Westinghouse to begin ordering long-lead items for the first of three planned AP1000 reactors at Lubiatowo-Kopalino, on the Baltic coast in Pomerania. The order, announced on 8 October 2026, covers six key components of the reactor’s nuclear island, including the containment vessel and its associated structural modules, before the wider engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with the Westinghouse-Bechtel Consortium has been finalised.

Buying reactor parts ahead of a contract still being negotiated

Long-lead items are the heavy forgings, castings and major structural modules that take the longest to manufacture, so nuclear projects typically order them years before construction starts to avoid delays later. PEJ said the procurement, covering supplier selection, quality and supervision plans, technical documentation, and the start of material sourcing, is proceeding under the existing Engineering Development Agreement (EDA) it holds with the Westinghouse-Bechtel Consortium — not under the final EPC contract itself. PEJ and the consortium agreed the main commercial and legal terms of that EPC contract in September 2026, but detailed negotiations are continuing, with completion targeted for the end of 2026. Ordering the containment vessel and related items now, PEJ said, is meant to protect the construction schedule and budget from slipping while those talks continue. Bechtel, which leads the non-nuclear portion of the project, has already placed its own share of long-lead orders, according to PEJ.

Polish suppliers in the running

PEJ and Westinghouse expect Polish companies that obtain ASME NQA-1 certification — the quality standard required for nuclear-grade components — to compete for the new contracts. Westinghouse has previously named seven Polish suppliers, including Polimex Mostostal and Mostostal Kielce, as candidates to support both the Lubiatowo-Kopalino plant and the company’s other European projects. Production and delivery of the finished components to the construction site will be handled under a separate, later order, PEJ said; this stage covers only the preparatory procurement work.

A project moving in stages, not yet at first concrete

Westinghouse’s AP1000 technology was selected for Poland’s nuclear programme in November 2022, and the project has advanced through a sequence of narrower agreements rather than a single construction go-ahead: an 18-month engineering services contract signed in September 2023, EDA terms agreed in April 2025, and an amendment on 29 December 2025 to continue design work and geological surveys. PEJ submitted a construction permit application to Poland’s National Atomic Energy Agency on 31 March 2026, and plans to apply for a building permit with the Pomeranian Voivode in 2027. The company is targeting first concrete for unit 1 in the fourth quarter of 2028, with roughly seven years of construction and about a year of testing and commissioning to follow per reactor. Poland’s energy minister has set 2036 as the goal for the first reactor to start supplying power, with units 2 and 3 following in 2037 and 2038 — a schedule that lines up with the 2036 start date Poland’s government confirmed for the first unit earlier this month. No cost figures for the long-lead order itself were disclosed.

Part of a wider wave of new nuclear orders

Poland’s procurement move lands amid a broader run of nuclear commitments elsewhere: South Korea, for instance, recently pledged $120 billion to help finance eight nuclear reactors in the United States, part of a global pickup in new reactor orders after a decade in which Western nuclear construction mostly stalled. For Poland, which has no existing nuclear power plants and is building its first from scratch, locking in long-lead components before the EPC contract is even signed is a bet that early ordering will do more to protect the 2036 target than waiting for every commercial term to be settled first.

Sources

• World Nuclear News, “Poland begins ordering long-lead components for first AP1000,” 8 October 2026 (scope, EDA basis, timeline) — world-nuclear-news.org
• PEJ and Westinghouse joint statement via BusinessWire, “PEJ and Westinghouse Begin Long-Lead Item Procurement Process for Poland’s First Nuclear Power Plant,” 8 October 2026 (official announcement, supplier and EPC detail) — businesswire.com
• Bechtel, Poland AP1000 Nuclear Power Plant project page (consortium role, site background) — bechtel.com

Illustrative image. Photo: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — source