France: Helping to build Polish nuclear plants

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed Thursday to work together on a 20-year programme to develop Poland's nuclear industry.

France will train Polish engineers and joint research will be carried out on equipping Poland with nuclear plants by 2030, the leaders said in a joint declaration following talks in Paris.

Tusk said Poland hoped to put a first reactor in service in around 2020 and a second around five years later, hailing the deal with France as the "grand beginning of Poland's nuclear programme."

Sarkozy welcomed "the Polish decision to launch exclusive high-level talks on developing a nuclear industry in Poland."

Warsaw announced plans to develop a nuclear energy programme in a bid to diversify its energy sources, as a row between Russia and Ukraine halted gas supply to Europe. Poland imports around 40 percent of its gas from Russia.

Poland, which currently relies on coal-fired plants for 94 percent of its electricity, has also committed itself to easing its dependence on coal as part of the EU's climate package which limits greenhouse gas emissions.

The three-part cooperation deal was struck on the sidelines of Tusk's visit, between the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and a consortium of Polish institutes and the Polish academy of sciences.

The French-Polish announcement comes days after nuclear regulators raised concerns over the design of France's new-generation EPR reactor, saying its day-by-day control systems were too closely entwined with emergency systems.

Experts have said there was a small chance the regulators' complaint could add to existing delays and cost overruns to the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) programme, led by French nuclear giant Areva.

But French Prime Minister Francois Fillon insisted Thursday the state had "full confidence" in Areva's ability to address the safety concerns.

France generates more than three-quarters of its electricity through nuclear power, more than any other country by proportion, and Sarkozy has made exporting French know-how a top priority.

China and Finland are already building French-designed new generation reactors, and talks are underway to export the EPR model to Britain, India, Abu Dhabi and the United States.