Polish state-run energy group PGE said Wednesday it expected to launch a public tender to build the country's first nuclear power station within two months.
"The tender will concern the first nuclear plant to be built in line with the government's strategy," PGE chairman Krzysztof Kiljan told reporters.
Poland expects the plant, featuring three reactors and a capacity of about 3,000 megawatts (MW), will be launched as of 2020 and operate at full capacity as of 2025.
PGE said it expected nuclear power to make up 36 percent of its total output in 2030, after the launch of a second nuclear plant.
Poland, a country of 38 million people, relies on coal-fired power stations for 94 percent of its power output at present. PGE accounts for about 40 percent of the country's total output.
PGE was expected to launch the tender before the end of last year, but the plan was delayed by the economic crisis.
Up to now, PGE has received interest from three large international groupings — a joint offer by France's EDF and Areva and separate bids from Japanese-American consortiums Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas.
