Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe, the state company building Poland’s first nuclear power station, has asked the regional governor for permission to begin early works at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site on the Baltic coast. The application, reported on 2 November 2026, relies on a route written into law this year that lets groundwork proceed without a separate licence from the National Atomic Energy Agency. Construction of the plant itself is scheduled to begin in 2028.
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The plant is planned as three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in Choczewo municipality, in Pomerania. Its first unit is scheduled for commercial operation in 2036 and the full plant for 2038, three years later than previously planned. Between the application and the first concrete poured for a reactor building lie a construction permit still to be filed, and a pile of preparatory work that has already begun.
An early works permit at Lubiatowo-Kopalino
PEJ applied to the Pomeranian voivode, the head of the regional government, for a permit covering site preparation and basic infrastructure, as World Nuclear News reported. The scope includes the onshore part of the circulating water system, meaning intake and discharge pipelines, a retention basin for rainwater and meltwater, internal roads, and launch pits for a tunnel boring machine. Pipelines will pass beneath the beach and the Baltic seabed using a trenchless method.
Only work outside the nuclear safety envelope qualifies. Poland’s nuclear regulator had previously classified the circulating water system as not safety-related, which means it can be built before the main facility licences are granted. The mechanism was added to law by the Act of 3 July 2026, which amended the Nuclear Special Act governing investment projects in nuclear power facilities.
The sequence the company has set out is short on slack. The early works application falls in 2026, the construction permit application in 2027, the start of construction in 2028, commercial operation of the first unit in 2036, and full capacity in 2038. Each date after the first depends on regulators and contractors keeping pace, and the early works route exists to remove one approval from that chain.
Ministers, the PEJ board and the case for moving early
Miłosz Motyka, Poland’s energy minister, called construction of the plant the largest energy project in the country’s history and described the application as a practical use of the new solutions. Marek Woszczyk, president of PEJ’s management board, said the permit route lets the company start basic work without waiting for further administrative approvals, and thanked the government and other parties who amended the law.
The new application follows an earlier one. In August 2024, PEJ sought a permit for preparatory works, including surveying and fencing, on about 300 hectares, planned in two phases with the first covering about 45% of the site. Vegetation removal is planned, preceded by mitigation such as metaplantation and the installation of bird and bat boxes. The second phase, aimed at infrastructure for the future construction site, is now underway.
Bechtel, Westinghouse and the Polish supply chain
Contractors are already moving. In August 2026 PEJ handed site management to the general contractor Bechtel, which took over the site as earthworks began, with responsibility for supervision, subcontractor coordination and site safety, along with onshore and offshore geological surveys. PEJ’s own site, pej.pl, is where the company publishes project updates, and the regional authority that will rule on the permit is the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
On the equipment side, Westinghouse placed conditional purchase orders in October 2026 for safety-related modules with four Polish firms: Mostostal Kielce, Energomontaż-Północ Gdynia, Mostostal Krakow and FAMAK. Dan Lipman, president of global business initiatives at Westinghouse, said the company was impressed with the technical capabilities of Polish industry. Full awards depend on each firm achieving NQA-1 certification and completing pre-production mock-ups, so the conditional orders are a first step and not a final contract for any of the four. The orders came about a week after Westinghouse was authorised to start ordering long-lead items for the first unit.
Local industry is being drawn in beyond the Westinghouse orders. Bechtel selected Polimex Mostostal in September 2026 to build two large assembly halls for the project. Woszczyk called the Westinghouse orders tangible proof that Polish companies are moving closer to contributing to construction, and said the progress shows the potential of Polish industry to join the global AP1000 supply chain.
The timetable between now and 2028 is the open question. PEJ plans to file its construction permit application in 2027, and the early works permit has no decision date in the report. The date PEJ submitted the early works application is not given, so how quickly the voivode will rule is unknown, and the first formal gate for the groundwork stays unscheduled in the public record. Background on the national programme sits in the World Nuclear Association’s country profile of nuclear power in Poland.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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