WARSAW, April 28 (Reuters) - Polish state-owned firm PEJ

and U.S. companies Westinghouse Electric and Bechtel will sign a

contract on Monday to continue work to design the country's

first nuclear power plant, the Polish prime minister's office

said.

Poland is seeking to reduce its reliance on coal and has

chosen Westinghouse to build its first nuclear plant on the

Baltic Sea coast.

PEJ still needs to negotiate an engineering, procurement and

construction (EPC) contract with the builder but that requires

European Commission approval for public aid worth 60 billion

zloty ($16 billion) that the project is set to benefit from.

Poland aims to get the EU nod for the project by the end of

the year to start the construction of the first unit of the

plant in 2028 and complete it in 2036, four years later than

initially planned.

The plant, which already has backing from U.S. and Canadian

financial institutions, is set to cost about $40 billion and is

due to be fully operational by 2040.

($1 = 3.7670 zlotys)

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Emelia

Sithole-Matarise)