Poland and the Czech Republic agreed to closer cooperation on the civilian use of nuclear energy during a meeting between Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala in Prague on Wednesday.
Tusk said that Poland is starting “from scratch” in this area, while the Czech Republic has many years of experience.
“We are convinced that nuclear energy is the way forward,” Fiala said.
Poland plans to invest heavily in nuclear energy in the coming decades.
The contract for the first reactor unit was awarded to the American nuclear power plant manufacturer Westinghouse in 2022. The plant is planned to be operational in 2033, after which five more units will follow.
The Czech Republic currently operates a total of six nuclear reactors at the Temelin and Dukovany sites in the south of the country.
The leaders also discussed the future of the Schengen area, with both expressing concerns about free movement after Germany introduced border controls in September in a bid to reduce the number of illegal entries into the country.
Fiala said the border controls go against the idea of the European Union and European integration, and that illegal migration should be solved in other ways, for example at the EU’s external borders.
