600 hectares of seabed cleared for Poland's nuclear plant. 500 objects, a Hanseatic barrel and no ordnance

Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) has completed the offshore UXO survey of the area where the cooling water infrastructure of the Lubiatowo-Kopalino nuclear power plant will be built. Over 10 months more than 600 hectares of seabed were surveyed, around 500 objects were recovered, and the campaign confirmed that the area holds no remnants of weapons that could endanger the project, its workers or the environment. Along the way the divers brought up artefacts, among them a barrel from a Hanseatic ship and an admiralty anchor, which will go to the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk.

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15 september 2026   |   11:20   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. Baltic Divins Solutions

The UXO (unexploded ordnance) campaign was one of the key stages in preparing the offshore part of the investment. Its purpose was to detect any unexploded munitions, weapon remnants and metal objects on the seabed that could hinder further geological surveys and future construction. It is here that the elements of the plant's cooling system will be built, the structures that draw water from the Baltic and return it.

– Building Poland's first nuclear power plant requires responsible and comprehensive preparation of every element of the investment. The completed UXO campaign is an important stage of work on the plant's offshore infrastructure. Work at sea confirmed that the area we surveyed is safe, while at the same time valuable testimony to the history of the Baltic was secured. We are consistently delivering the successive stages of a project that is to give Poland a stable source of energy and become one of the foundations of our power system for decades to come – said Miłosz Motyka, Minister of Energy.

A contractor from the Wejherowo district

The work was carried out by a consortium of two companies. Baltic Diving Solutions from the Wejherowo district was responsible for diving, uncovering, identifying and recovering objects from the seabed, while Geo Ingenieurservice Polska handled the geophysical surveys and data analysis. PEJ stresses that the experience of a local contractor familiar with Baltic conditions significantly smoothed the work at sea.

Conditions were unforgiving. Teams worked through winter ice cover and difficult summer weather, and July storms with high waves halted the survey vessels and dive teams. A further challenge was coordination with other work under way on the same waters at the same time: the third stage of geological surveys and marine environmental monitoring.

– Our goal, the commissioning and operation of Poland's first nuclear power plant, lies in the near future, but we want to reach it with respect for the past. The survey just completed was a complex undertaking requiring the cooperation of specialists from many fields, including archaeology. Over 10 months of surveying we approached every find with great care and attention, so as to secure not only the area of further work but also objects of cultural heritage – said Marek Woszczyk, President of the Management Board of PEJ.

A Hanseatic barrel, an admiralty anchor and a French engine

The seabed off Lubiatowo and Kopalino turned out to be an archive of maritime history. The most interesting find is a wooden barrel, probably from a Hanseatic merchant ship, dated to between the 15th and 17th centuries. Alongside it the divers recovered an admiralty anchor from the 17th or 18th century, a hand-operated anchor windlass with its anchor from around the turn of the 20th century, and a wooden capstan used aboard ships for lifting loads and hauling lines. Archaeologists were also intrigued by a four-cylinder marine engine of the French make Castelnau, most likely from a vessel of the first half of the 20th century.

The artefacts will go to the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk for study and conservation. The Hanseatic barrel is already there.

– The archaeological value of the objects being discovered stems not only from their age or rarity, but above all from the information we can obtain by analysing them and correctly reading the context in which they were found. A barrel, an anchor, a capstan or elements of deck equipment are evidence of specific practices in the construction, fitting out and operation of vessels. Their identification, dating and analysis allow us to understand better the history of navigation in the Baltic and the trade routes and human activity connected with it – explained Dr Marcin Westphal, Deputy Director for Research at the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk.

The way is clear for the next stages

The campaign's most important result is the confirmation that the surveyed area contains no weapon remnants. PEJ can therefore proceed safely to the next stages of preparing the offshore infrastructure, including detailed geological investigation for the cooling system structures.

For the central coast it is another signal that the nuclear project does not end on land in the municipality of Choczewo. Its offshore component, from seabed surveys to the future hydraulic structures, will generate contracts for Pomeranian diving, geophysical and marine engineering companies for years, and will keep supplying museums with new finds from the bottom of the Baltic.

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elektrownia jądrowa Lubiatowo-Kopalino Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe badania UXO Narodowe Muzeum Morskie Bałtyk

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