Orlen, Synthos Green Energy (SGE) and their joint venture Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) have signed a framework agreement for the development of BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Poland. The deal covers the first two sites: Włocławek and Stawy Monowskie, near Oświęcim. The parties disclosed the terms on 22 October, after three years of negotiations.
At Włocławek, Orlen will act as lead investor and will obtain direct licensing rights to the technology. The plant will be built in stages through the special-purpose company BWRX-300 Włocławek, controlled by the oil and gas group. According to Polish press reports, Orlen’s stake will be 70% and Synthos’s 30%, with operational control resting with Orlen. The same structure applies to Stawy Monowskie, where SGE takes the lead role instead. The first unit at Włocławek is planned for the mid-2030s.
Schedule, budget and scope of work will be set for each phase. Funding for later phases will depend on meeting the objectives of earlier ones. The details will be laid out in the implementing contracts, which the companies aim to finalize by the end of the year.
The context explains the significance of the agreement. OSGE holds decisions-in-principle from the Ministry of Climate and Environment for 24 reactors across six locations: Włocławek, Stawy Monowskie, Ostrołęka, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Kraków (Nowa Huta) and Tarnobrzeg-Stalowa Wola. Until now, however, the allocation of roles and shares between the two partners had held back concrete progress on the projects. The technology is the 300 MWe boiling water reactor developed by GE Vernova-Hitachi.
Orlen has included SMRs in its strategy: at least two units totaling 0.6 GWe by 2035. The Włocławek site is the one identified as a priority, located within an industrial area of the group that can directly absorb the energy produced. On the international front, SGE is moving in parallel: its subsidiary SGE SMR UK has signed a letter of intent with Origin Nuclear, a company of Ontario Power Generation, for a joint venture to manage the small modular reactors planned in the United Kingdom.
With the division of responsibilities now settled, the next step is the implementing contracts expected by December. If they arrive on schedule, Poland can move from decisions-in-principle to preparing the first two construction sites, with Włocławek in the lead. For the rest of the 24-unit fleet, the same governance schemes could serve as a model for Ostrołęka and the other four sites.
