Progress continues on Poland’s journey towards its first coal-to-nuclear project. On March 28^th 2025, 1000 people gathered in Bełchatów, Poland for an event called "From Coal to Atom. Bełchatów of the Future". Attendees included employees of the local power plant and lignite mine, along with government officials and representatives of trade unions, utility companies, universities and research institutes.

Bełchatów is the largest coal plant in Poland, providing around 13% of installed capacity, with 23.8 TWh of production in 2024, and there is already a large resource of personnel available locally (energy engineers, mechanics, IT specialists and control specialists for example).

Preliminary research into the seismology, geology, hydrology, amongst other factors has already begun. Bełchatów’s potential as a location for the investment in Poland’s second nuclear site was discussed in four panels. Łukasz Bartela was a panellist at the event (seated far right in the photo with the microphone), and is the leader of Repower Initiative's partner in Poland, DEsire.

Łukasz said:

“I have never seen such a strong integration of society in the fight for investment”