US engineering giant Bechtel has opened an office in Gdańsk, northern Poland to support the delivery of the country’s first nuclear power plant and develop a local workforce to grow Poland’s nuclear industry.

The office will serve as an engineering and operations hub for the nuclear facility in Choczewo, Pomerania, on the Baltic coast, which is Poland’s first nuclear project and will be built by Westinghouse and Bechtel alongside Polish utility company Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe.

The price tag for the nuclear plant could reach $37bn and will contain three of Westinghouse’s AP1000 units generating 3GW of energy. The Generation III+ reactor has fully passive safety systems, a modular design and one of the smallest footprints per MWe.

Leszek Hołda, Bechtel Polska’s president, said: “We are building engineering capability in the region, creating opportunities for Polish professionals, and increasing participation by Polish companies in the project and the broader nuclear supply chain.”

Bechtel currently has an office in Warsaw and has partnered with academic institutions including the Gdańsk University of Technology.

According to Poland’s state nuclear agency, the first phase of the plant is due to open in 2036. Two additional units are expected to follow within the next three years.

The project aims to reduce Poland’s dependence on coal, reducing it from 51% at present, according to energy think tank Ember. The country is one of the top 10 emitters of coal mine methane globally.

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