KGHM signs deal with NuScale to develop small reactors - media

The Polish copper and silver company KGHM and the US SMR technology developer NuScale Power signed a contract on Monday to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), online business news service BiznesAlert.pl has reported.

Deputy Prime Minister and State Assets Minister Jacek Sasin told BiznesAlert.pl that, in line with the cooperation agreement, the plan foresees the construction of six NuScale SMRs, with optional expansion to 12 reactors, with an installed total capacity of around 1 GW.

"We have an assurance from NuScale that the first nuclear reactor under the six-reactor deal signed today could already be operational in 2029," Sasin said at a conference in Washington on Monday.

He added that KGHM is not the first Polish company to decide that it will build its energy security based on small nuclear reactors.

"Earlier, the largest Polish fuel and energy concern, the Orlen company, decided that it would cooperate in this respect with the American concern GE Hitachi, and there are other Polish companies in the queue willing to cooperate with American companies."

In September 2021, KGHM announced plans to sign a deal with NuScale Power to develop 1-12 SMR reactors with the capacity of each to produce up to 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe), and said it hoped the first reactor would start operating as early as 2029.