Bechtel, Westinghouse and PEJ Agree EPC Terms for Poland's First Nuclear Plant, With the EUR 42bn Aid Case Already Fixed

I keep seeing the same sequence on state backed megaprojects across this region. The capital structure gets fixed years before the price does. Poland has now done exactly that, at scale.

On 23 September 2026 Bechtel announced an agreement with Westinghouse and Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ). The three parties settled the main commercial terms of the engineering, procurement and construction contract. That is the EPC contract for Poland's first nuclear power plant, and it is still unsigned. Both sides said they aim to finish detailed negotiations by the end of 2026.

What the announcement actually covers

The scope is three Westinghouse AP1000 units at Lubiatowo-Kopalino, in the Choczewo commune on the Baltic coast. Combined capacity is 3,750 MWe. PEJ president Marek Woszczyk said the first electricity will flow to the Polish grid in 2036.

Engineering News-Record reported on 25 September 2026 that first nuclear concrete is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2028. Commercial operation of the three units is set for 2036, 2037 and 2038. A building permit application follows in 2027.

The capital structure was settled first

The European Commission cleared the Polish state aid package on 9 December 2025. That decision was assessed against a total investment cost of EUR 42bn, as reported by World Nuclear News. Poland injects about EUR 14bn of equity, roughly 30 per cent of the cost.

The state then guarantees 100 per cent of the debt. A two way contract for difference gives 40 years of revenue stability. Brussels cut that term from the 60 years Poland first proposed. It also required at least 70 per cent of annual output to be sold on open exchanges.

By January 2026 PEJ had signed its first loan with the Export-Import Bank of the United States. It also held letters of intent from 11 export credit agencies worth more than PLN 100bn, about USD 28bn. So the sovereign has underwritten the debt and the revenue floor before anyone has priced the works.

The aid case and the programme have drifted apart

The Commission assessed that aid against commercial operation in 2033. The current plan puts the first unit three years later. No one revisits a state aid decision because a date moved.

Engineering News-Record put the Commission's cost estimate at USD 52bn on 25 September 2026. The decision itself carried EUR 42bn. Treat the gap carefully, because the two figures use different currencies and different vintages. The direction of travel is still one way.

Three years of slippage lengthens interest during construction. It lengthens the guarantee exposure and stretches the equity draw. None of that sits in the headline number.

The contract form is the whole question

Neither side has said whether the EPC will be fixed price, target price or cost reimbursable. That single choice decides where an overrun lands. It is why the remaining negotiation matters more than the announcement.

A first of a kind plant carries a contingency no contractor wants printed. Poland has no nuclear supply chain to soften it. A fixed price would show it. A cost reimbursable deal hides it until the invoices arrive.

With a full sovereign guarantee behind the debt, the Polish taxpayer stands behind either answer. Lenders will read the price mechanism before they read the schedule.

The year end target is the live constraint. A term sheet that does not convert by December pushes the building permit application. That permit sets the 2028 concrete date.

The local content figure is still small

Polish firms have won more than PLN 1bn, about USD 250m, of work so far. Budimex, Doraco, Unihouse, MSA Security and Barg M.B Gdansk are the named suppliers. Nearly 200 Polish nationals sit on the project team, with around 100 more in recruitment.

Set that against a build of EUR 42bn or more. The second and third tier packages are where the Polish market actually opens. They also land in a strained labour market. Polish construction is short of about 150,000 workers, on Randstad figures reported by EurobuildCEE on 1 September 2026.

What to watch from here

The number that matters next is the strike price under the contract for difference. It converts the EPC outcome into a consumer bill for 40 years. Until the contract is signed, that price is an estimate resting on another estimate.

Czechia, Hungary and Romania are all running new nuclear programmes with similar sovereign support. Poland is the largest live test of this sequence in the region. Sponsors, contractors and lenders should watch closely to see which party ends up holding the first overrun.