Status: 01/25/2023 11:14 a.m
In the fight against the climate crisis, Poland relies on nuclear power. The first nuclear power plant is to be built in the village of Choczewo on the Baltic Sea. The population supports this with a large majority, but there is also resistance on site.
What appears from afar to be a group of friends walking along the beach is, up close, a protest. The thirteen members of the “Ostsee-SOS” citizens’ initiative wear T-shirts with anti-nuclear slogans over their thick winter jackets, and “Stop Atom” stickers even adorn the dogs they have brought with them.
They all share the fear of a special landscape. Because here, in the municipality of Choczewo, which advertises the most beautiful beaches in Poland, the country’s first nuclear power plant is to be built.
The place is about 75 kilometers northwest of Gdansk. This is a nightmare for opponents of the nuclear power plant. “If you imagine that these beaches will be destroyed, you just want to cry. There are very few beaches like this here in Poland,” says Jolanta Gruba.
Like most of the other members of the citizens’ initiative, Gruba owns a holiday home here, which she rents out to tourists, especially in the summer. They fear that this will come to an end when large-scale construction takes place here and a nuclear power plant looms over the landscape.
The planned construction of the first nuclear power plant on the Polish Baltic Sea coast has met with mixed reactions.
Kristin Joachim, ARD Warsaw, Mittagsmagazin, January 23, 2023
Climate targets create constraints
Poland’s government must and wants to get out of coal. The EU climate targets alone are forcing the country to do so. Currently, almost 80 percent of the electricity generated in Poland comes from coal-fired power plants. And because these are relatively outdated, Poland is one of the top air polluters in Europe.
In addition to nuclear power, the government is also focusing on the construction of offshore wind farms and solar power plants. However, according to experts, decarbonisation would not be possible with renewable energies alone.
Seven years of construction planned
The US company Westinghouse was awarded the contract for the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant in Choczewo in October. The construction costs are said to be the equivalent of 18.6 billion euros.
It should start in 2026. According to the plan, the first reactor block could go online in 2033. For this, the pine forest along the coast would have to be cleared extensively. The cooling water from the finished nuclear power plant is to flow directly into the sea via large pipes. The whole area here would look different.
Villages hope for an upswing
And yet many are here for the construction of the nuclear power plant. In the small villages in the area like Slajszewo or Kopalino, protest posters are actually only hanging on the fences of those who own holiday homes and earn money from tourism.
Others say the church will no longer be beautiful, but it will be rich. The mayor of Kopalino, Jerzy Zuczek, also sees it this way: “Our community has no other resources and there is no industry here.”
Zuczek is banking on development opportunities, hoping for a new infrastructure and a connection to the sewage system. He can understand that those with holiday homes are against it. “They invested money here and are now angry. But I also tell them that they then have to apply for compensation from the government.”
The second try
This is not the first time that the long-established people in the region have been dealing with the pros and cons of nuclear power. There has already been an attempt to set up a nuclear power plant here. That was in the 1980s. Only 20 kilometers away from Choczewo, the skeleton of the shell is still there.
At that time, the turning point and the Chernobyl disaster intervened. Protests arose among the population. But today 75 percent of the Polish population is in favor of nuclear power – more than ever since the war in Ukraine and the associated energy crisis.
Poland’s first nuclear power plant was to be built near Zarnowitz – after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, construction was never completed.
Image: Kristin Joachim
And what about the nuclear waste?
Climate protectors – unlike in Germany – support the government’s strategy. Andrzej Gasiorowski from the organization Fota4Climate says nuclear energy is part of the solution to the energy problem. “But it should work together with renewable energies. That’s the only way to get away from coal. Not just for Poland, but for every country.”
Politically, Poland’s nuclear entry is unchallenged, it is supported by all relevant parties in the country. At most, the debate is about the costs and the chosen partners. In Poland, on the other hand, hardly anyone is concerned about reactor safety and the storage of nuclear waste. A repository has not yet been sought.