Vice President of the National Atomic Energy Agency: "The construction of a nuclear power plant requires an independent and strong nuclear regulatory authority"
10.09.2025
During the Third Congress of Nuclear Energy, Vice President of the PAA ,Paweł Pytlarczyk, emphasized that nuclear regulatory authority - the National Atomic Energy Agency - plays a key role in the development of nuclear energy in Poland. He pointed to the tasks of the PAA as an independent regulatory body, operating on the basis of national regulations and international requirements and standards.
Opening the congress, Paweł Pytlarczyk reminded that the construction of nuclear power plants is an undertaking of exceptional scale, requiring the involvement of many institutions, including the National Atomic Energy Agency. "The Agency will assess applications to issue a licence for the construction, commissioning and operation of a NPP and oversee the safe implementation of the investment, and later the operation of the NPP," said the Vice President of the PAA.
He added that the role of a nuclear regulatory authority is not limited to the oversight of nuclear facilities. The competencies of the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency include, among other things, round-the-clock radiation monitoring of the country, supervision of the transport and disposal of radioactive materials, and regulation of activities involving exposure to ionizing radiation. Today, there are over 8,000regulated activities in Poland in such fields as medicine, science and industry. Last year, the PAA issued over 1,700 administrative regulatory decisions.
Paweł Pytlarczyk also drew attention to the development of international cooperation of the National Atomic Energy Agency. "For us, international cooperation is primarily about increasing our own competence and implementing good practices, which is reflected in the safety of all of us," said the Vice President of the PAA.
The Vice President of the PAA also took part in a discussion panel entitled "Poland’s path to nuclear power – the role of nuclear energy in the transformation of the sector". He explained that the PAA is currently conducting a pre-licensing dialogue with, inter alia, a company that is responsible for the investment process of constructing the first nuclear power plant in Poland, i.e. Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe. In the course of this dialogue, the President of the PAA issued three general opinions, available on the website of the PAA. Currently, the Agency is evaluating the documents submitted by the company together with an application for another opinion – on the Preliminary Siting Report.
The Third Nuclear Energy Congress was held on 10 and 11 September in Warsaw. The President of the National Atomic Energy Agency took the honorary patronage of this event.