Poland’s first nuclear power plant is not expected to deliver electricity until 2036, but supply chain work has already begun. Earlier this month, state-owned Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) commissioned Westinghouse to begin procuring long-lead components for the first of the nuclear plant’s three AP1000 reactors. Suppliers can start seeing orders like these years before a reactor needs fuel or produces electricity, and the VettaFi Nuclear Renaissance Index (NUKZX) includes several of the companies in the reactor supply chain.
Poland starts procurement for its First AP1000
The European Commission approved state aid for the roughly €42 billion project in December 2025. Last month, PEJ and the Westinghouse-Bechtel consortium agreed on the main commercial terms of the engineering, procurement, and construction contract, with plans to finish negotiations by the end of this year.
PEJ’s order earlier this month covered six key nuclear components for the first of three reactor plants. The order included the reactor containment vessel and its associated structural modules. This procurement phase involves developing some of the quality and supervision plans, along with selecting suppliers and placing material orders.
Westinghouse rapidly turned out some of the initial orders and began placing work with suppliers the following week. The reactor technology developer issued conditional purchase orders to manufacturers in Poland for sections of the structural modules and storage tanks.
Suppliers capture revenue long before reactors begin generating electricity
PEJ applied for a reactor construction permit from Poland’s nuclear regulator in March and expects to pour first concrete for Unit 1 at the end of 2028. It’s projected that each unit needs about seven years of construction and a year of testing and commissioning, which puts operation of the three units in 2036, 2037, and 2038.
Nuclear Engineering International estimates that manufacturing and delivering the long-lead items could take three to five years. Some components weigh 500 tons or more, with site delivery targeted for 2030 to 2031. PEJ said that these items make up a large share of the project’s cost and that ordering them now protects both the schedule and the budget.
On Cameco’s second-quarter earnings call, management noted that Westinghouse’s share of an AP1000 project’s total spending is roughly 40-45%. Importantly, about half of Westinghouse’s revenue from initial projects comes in the first five years. For suppliers, that points to much of the work on Poland’s plant occurring in the late 2020s and early 2030s.
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NUKZX features companies across the AP1000 supply chain
Cameco, one of the largest constituents in NUKZX, owns 49% of Westinghouse, which recently filed confidentially for an initial public offering. Cameco’s second-quarter report counts up to 91 potential AP1000 reactors at various stages of discussion, with commercial operation dates ranging from the early 2030s to the early 2040s.
Curtiss-Wright builds the reactor cooling pumps for each AP1000 reactor plant. Each AP1000 uses four pumps, and Curtiss-Wright is the only qualified Westinghouse supplier of these pumps.
Reactor vessels and steam generators are among the heaviest, long-lived items, and two index constituents supply those components. Doosan fabricated the reactor vessel for the AP1000 reactors built in Georgia. BWXT’s Canadian subsidiary signed a memorandum of understanding with Westinghouse covering a potential supply of AP1000 steam generators and reactor vessels.
Amentum (AMTM) signed agreements with Westinghouse in August to strengthen engineering and execution capacity for fleet-scale AP1000 deployment.
Many other nuclear ETFs are weighted heavily toward uranium miners and advanced reactor developers. NUKZX includes the manufacturers and engineering firms that book orders during the decade of procurement and construction before a plant produces power. This is a critical exposure that funds concentrated in miners and developers do not generally offer.
Cameco, Curtiss-Wright, Doosan, BWXT, and Amentum are all included in the NUKZX index. NUKZX serves as the underlying index for the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ ).
Key takeaways
- PEJ has commissioned Westinghouse to begin procuring key nuclear components for Poland’s first AP1000, about a decade before the unit’s target for commercial operation.
- Cameco (CCJ), which owns 49% of Westinghouse, expects about half of Westinghouse’s revenue from initial AP1000 projects to come in the first five years.
- While other nuclear ETFs might be weighted toward mining companies and advanced reactor technologies, NUKZX includes reactor component suppliers such as Curtiss-Wright (CW), BWX Technologies (BWXT), and Doosan (000150.KS).
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This article was originally published on ETFDb.
