Poland can pay for the first of two planned nuclear power plants (NPPs) but will have to seek help fund the second, prime minister Donald Tusk said this week, Reuters reports.

“When it comes to the first power plant, we are taking on almost the entire financial burden ourselves. When it comes to the second, we need to look for financial partners,” he said.

He added: “I am a realist. We really want to build it, but we also need real funds for that.”

Poland has ambitious plans to create a nuclear industry, complementing its move into wind energy and reducing its reliance on coal, which last year accounted for 73% of electricity generated.

When the plan was announced in September 2020, the aim was to build six reactors over 20 years for a total price of $40bn.

But when the first plant was awarded to US engineers Westinghouse and Bechtel the cost turned out to be $37bn.

Work on this plant is due to start in Pomerania in 2026, with the first AP1000 reactor scheduled for completion in 2033. Two more reactors will be added by 2036.

If finance can be found, the second plant will be built by Kepco of South Korea and will consist of two APR 1400 reactors installed in the Patnów-Konin region of central Poland.

In July, the Ministry of Climate and Environment issued a “decision-in-principle” to build the second plant.

That’s seen as confirmation that the project is in line with the public interest and the policies pursued by the state.

But there is still some way to go before Warsaw commits itself to going ahead with the second plant.

As well as inflation, the higher than expected cost reflects the difficulty of putting together an industry from scratch – both in Poland and, to some extent, in the US, whose nuclear-building industry has long been dormant.

In September Poland sent a request for European Commission approval of a plan to finance the plant.

The government is also working on legislation that will allow it to inject $15.5bn into state-owned utility Polish Nuclear Power Plants, which is overseeing the building of the first reactor.