Criteria for selecting the location of a nuclear power plant in Poland

The constantly growing demand for electricity, especially cheap and ecological, forces countries to look for innovative technological solutions for both energy generation and transmission infrastructure. Nuclear power plants are once again becoming an important element of global energy, with safety standards being constantly raised, especially intensively after 1986, i.e., after the Chernobyl disaster. Currently built reactors, known as third-generation reactors, are characterized by a much higher degree of safety and higher efficiency than those built in earlier years. It should not be surprising, therefore, that cheaper and currently relatively safe to obtain energy from a nuclear source is slowly returning to favor as the best alternative to the ever-more-expensive crude oil, gas, and coal. It should also be remembered that a side effect of burning fossil fuels, especially hard coal and lignite, is carbon dioxide (CO2), considered one of the most harmful greenhouse gases.In 2009, the Coal Industry Advisory Board (CIAB) estimated that 40% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere comes precisely from coal-fired power plants and combined heat and power plants. In Poland, the structure of hard coal and lignite consumption in 2010 compared to the previous year changed slightly, and the share of these fuels in electricity production decreased from just 93.7% to 90.1%6,7. (…)

Criteria for selecting the location of a nuclear power plant in Poland – PDF file for download