Five power giants from around the world have expressed interest in building Poland's first nuclear plant, the state-owned utility behind the multi-billion-euro project said Monday.

Those in the running include French EDF/Areva, US firm Westinghouse, Canada's SNC-Lavalin Nuclear, South Korea's KEPCO and US-Japanese GE Hitachi, according to Poland's Rzeczpospolita daily.

"We will invite five consortiums who expressed interest in taking part in the proceedings," said Jacek Cichosz, chief executive of the PGE utility, quoted by Rzeczpospolita.

The cost of the plant, capable of producing 3,000 megawatts of electricity, is estimated at between 40 and 60 billion zloty (9-14 billion euros, $10-15 billion).

Warsaw is expected to launch a tender for the plant by the end of the year and announce a shortlist of three groups in mid-2016.

The EU member of 38 million people has been looking to diversify its energy sources to reduce its dependence on Russia. Relations between the two countries have been tense since Russia annexed the Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Poland currently produces 87 percent of its electricity using coal, but must diversify energy sources to meet limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

The Central European nation announced in January 2014 that it would build two nuclear plants by 2035. The first was slated to up and running in 2024 but experts now expect it to be delayed by several years.

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, whose conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party won the October general election after eight years in the opposition, has expressed scepticism over the country's nuclear programme and is backing coal-based energy.

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AREVA

TOSHIBA

KOREA ELECTRIC POWER CORPORATION

EDF - ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP