Japan yesterday signed a preliminary agreement to help Poland develop its nuclear power industry with next-generation reactors, Reuters reports.

Poland was one of the few former Warsaw Pact states not to develop nuclear power, relying instead on coal.

Now the country is in a hurry to diversify, partly by exploiting the wind potential of the Baltic, and partly by building a fleet of nuclear reactors.

“Leading companies in the Japanese nuclear sector are showing interest in developing cooperation with European companies,” said Poland’s energy ministry.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has agreed to help Warsaw build supply chains, understand safety technology, create a waste treatment capacity, and engineers and technicians.

It will also help Poland to adopt small modular reactors (SMRs). These are being seen as a way to profit from nuclear’s relatively low-carbon power, without the risk and cost of conventional nuclear power.

Many countries are working on SMR designs. Japan’s main offering is the BWRX-300 – a 300MW “boiling water” unit developed by Hitachi and General Electric.

Helium cooled

Japan may help Poland build a high-temperature helium-cooled reactor. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency operates a 30MW test version of this design in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.

It generates high enough temperatures to create hydrogen through the sulphur-iodine cycle, which is more efficient than electrolysis.

Poland originally intended to build six light-water reactors, with the work split between US and Korean suppliers. However, it emerged last month that the costs made that doubtful.

When the plan was announced in September 2020, the aim was to build six reactors over 20 years for a total price of $40bn. When the first plant was awarded to US engineers Westinghouse and Bechtel the cost turned out to be $37bn.

Nikkei Asia notes that Tokyo could market Japanese technology for the Westinghouse facilities, including steam turbines from Toshiba and containment vessels from the IHI Corporation. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation may also offer financing.