The new location, Westinghouse’s first in Poland, will open in August 2021. In the first stage, the centre will employ nearly 150 workers in various functions supporting the company as it competes to build new reactors in Poland.
The announcement of the shared service centre comes shortly after a series of milestones including the finalisation of an inter-governmental agreement between Poland and the US for cooperation on the country’s nuclear energy programme, and a recent meeting between Westinghouse president and chief executive officer Patrick Fragman and Piotr Naimski, Poland’s secretary of state for strategic energy infrastructure.
In March Westinghouse said it will source and develop a supply chain that could create more than 2,000 jobs in Poland if it is selected as a nuclear power partner for Poland with its AP1000 reactor technology.
Mr Naimski said at the time that Westinghouse was preparing the technical part of an offer for the nuclear project and has 12 months to do so. The second part of the offer will include a proposal for a financing structure for the project.
However, the government has said no decision has been made on the technology to be used for the new-build project and the government is ready to review other offers which come their way.
France’s state-owned utility and nuclear operator EDF said recently it was “fully engaged” in the race to be selected as preferred partner for the nuclear project. South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) has also said it is interested in the project.
Poland wants to build from 6,000 to 9,000 MW of installed nuclear capacity based on large-scale, pressurised water nuclear reactors. Commercial operation of a first nuclear reactor unit in a proposed set of six is planned for 2033.
Mr Naimski has put the cost of the project at about €17.5bn over 20 years. However, the national energy strategy until 2040 has put the total cost at about €30-€35bn.