WARSAW, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Poland will ask the European Commission (EC) to approve its nuclear program financing, and expects to complete the construction of the nuclear plant's first block in 2035, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
"I will file an official request to the EC this week for approval of financing the nuclear program," Maciej Bando, deputy minister of climate and environment in charge of strategic energy infrastructure said, adding that the government's goal is to complete the construction of the first block of the nuclear power plant in 2035.
However, he emphasized that the completion of construction work does not mean the immediate launch of the reactor, an additional few months to a year will be needed.
"Prime Minister Tusk's government has made it very clear that Poland's energy mix will be based on renewable sources and nuclear energy," Bando said in his speech during the 2nd Nuclear Energy Congress in Warsaw.
According to Bando, the government is working on an act to allow it to inject 60 billion Polish zloty (15.4 billion U.S. dollars) into the state-owned company Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe, which is in charge of overseeing the building of the nuclear plant.
The EC is in charge of ensuring any state aid given to companies by member states complies with EU rules on fair competition. Poland chose Westinghouse Electric to build its nuclear power plant on the Baltic Sea coast. ■