Poland's Ministry of Economy is to present in mid-January a comprehensive project of energy policy for the country until the year 2030 - announced deputy economy minister Joanna Strzelec-Łobodzinska. The document is to include an entry on the need to develop nuclear energy in Poland. It follows a declaration by PM Donald Tusk that intensive works will be undertaken on the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant this year. 
 
The first Polish nuclear power plant was supposed to be built in the northern locality of Zarnowiec. The project was approved in 1972 and construction began 10 years later but due to protests in the late 1980s and early '90s the nearly finished site was abandoned. It may get a second chance now after Poland reached an agreement with France, the European leader in nuclear technologies, which will sell Poland nuclear reactors.

According to initial reports, the plant would be located in the north or east of the country which has the most neglected energy infrastructure. The government will also conduct an awareness campaign to convince Poles and ecologists that nuclear energy is a safe way of producing electricity.

Energy  experts welcomed the decision. They say that with growing demand for electricity, the traditional power plants burning coal are generating more and more environmental problems, especially by emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Also, the price of electricity produced by nuclear power plants is about 20% cheaper than the one generated by traditional sources.
Ecologists opposed the idea of building nuclear power plants in this country. They claim that instead Poland should focus on renewable energy sources and develop clean coal technologies.
If everything goes according to the plan, Poland will start producing nuclear energy by the year 2020.

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