Poland, US firms to sign contract to design nuclear power plant

WARSAW, April 28 (Reuters) - Polish state-owned firm PEJ and U.S. companies Westinghouse Electric and Bechtel will sign a contract on Monday to continue work to design the country's first nuclear power plant, the Polish prime minister's office said.

Poland is seeking to reduce its reliance on coal and has chosen Westinghouse to build its first nuclear plant on the Baltic Sea coast.

PEJ still needs to negotiate an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with the builder but that requires European Commission approval for public aid worth 60 billion zloty ($16 billion) that the project is set to benefit from.

Poland aims to get the EU nod for the project by the end of the year to start the construction of the first unit of the plant in 2028 and complete it in 2036, four years later than initially planned.

The plant, which already has backing from U.S. and Canadian financial institutions, is set to cost about $40 billion and is due to be fully operational by 2040.

($1 = 3.7670 zlotys)