Lessons from Poland: It will soon be home to its first small modular reactor

Let’s follow Poland and resurrect our pioneering spirit

It is not often that I look at other countries with envy, but last week I was thoroughly green with envy because of a city that most of us have never heard of. The beautiful and ancient city of Włocławek in Poland will soon be home to that country’s first small modular reactor.

Poland’s state-controlled energy utility, Orlen (PKN Orlen), in conjunction with the privately owned Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) – collectively known as Orlen Synthos Green Energy – has agreed on an operating model that shows how, with synergy, joint ambition between the public and private sectors, and a shared appreciation of the long-term benefits of nuclear energy, major sustainable milestones can be achieved.

The site-selection decision follows a year-long negotiation that secured OSGE exclusive access in Poland to the BWRX-300 design developed by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a reactor praised for its passive safety features and potential for rapid deployment. This will be the first of its kind in Europe.

Nor does the Polish nuclear endeavour stop there. OSGE plans to have at least two SMRs running by 2035, with a combined capacity of 0.6 gigawatts.

Although I am delighted to see this safe, cost-effective and reliable technology that will provide carbon-free baseload power being implemented, I confess to conflicting emotions.

Why are we again lagging behind our European counterparts? We had the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), which could have made us leaders in the SMR field. But political short-sightedness derailed this goal. We once had the expertise for large-scale nuclear deployment in this country, but we continue to lose it to countries that are progressing their nuclear energy ambitions.

I have said this before in these very pages, and I will say it again: the time to prepare for our nuclear energy future is now. We have an obligation to resurrect our pioneering spirit and lead, rather than be led.

In the mid-2000s, the North-West University (NWU) had a scaled-down demonstration and SMR nuclear training facility, where we constructed, tested and researched a PBMR micro-model consisting of a three-shaft Brayton cycle and a Heat Transfer Test Facility (HTTF) comprising a High-Temperature Test Unit and a High-Pressure Test Unit. The NWU and our associates also contributed substantially to the design and development of other PBMR facilities, such as the Helium Test Facility. State-of-the-art computer modelling tools such as FLOWNEX, a flow and heat transfer simulation tool, as well as neutronics, thermal-hydraulics and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, were developed as part of the wider endeavour to support the PBMR project’s engineering design team. Some of these software tools are still being used to develop modern High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGRs) worldwide.

Universities across the globe are once again building nuclear systems of this scale on their campuses. Let South Africa take the initiative. Let us lure back those we have lost and give them the necessary incentives to continue the work that once promised to reshape our country’s energy supply and distribution.

We must also be honest. SMRs are not the only solution to our energy challenges. South Africa’s future demands more than patchwork fixes. We must stabilise supply, diversify beyond coal, and modernise our grid, while cutting emissions and protecting jobs. Strategic choices now—renewables, nuclear, gas and green hydrogen—will decide whether we lead in the just transition or continue to lag behind our peers.

Allow me to return to Włocławek for a moment. The city was founded more than 1 100 years ago and lies on the Vistula River in north-central Poland. It houses one of the oldest brick churches in the country, while Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and industrial-age influences can be found throughout. It is a place where history and modernity converge. Soon a BWRX-300 SMR will hum gently alongside centuries-old willow, alder and poplar trees. South Africa should take note: we can either continue to watch others shape the future, or summon the will to act decisively and claim our place among the leaders of tomorrow’s energy transition.

Prof Bismark Tyobeka is the Principal and vice-chancellor of the North-West University

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.

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