News

VILNIUS, Dec 08, BNS - Construction on a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania will start in three to four years' time, President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Tuesday. "In about three years' time, four years at the latest, construction on the new atomic power station will begin directly," she said at a news conference in Visaginas.

The president said she would not speculate on when the new facility couldbe built because that would basically depend on the investor.

 "I don't want to speculate. Currently, in the world there is a strong recovery in the very philosophy that atomic energy is needed, and a great number of countries begin to think again about construction [of nuclear power plants], even those which have shut down [their existing facilities]. So, there is quite a queue for generators. A lot will depend on what investor with what technology comes and if he is somewhere in this queue already," she said.

Grybauskaite emphasized the need for Lithuania and the other Balticcountries to open their electricity markets and integrate themselves into the Nordic system before the new plant becomes operational.

"We must use this period until we build [the plant] to ensure that Lithuania and the Baltic countries have a fully functioning free market fully integrated into the Nord Pool and Western grids.

This is the most important -- even more important than the atomic power station itself," she said.

Lithuania on Tuesday launched a public tender process to find an investor in the planned new nuclear power plant, which it expects to build together with Latvia, Estonia and Poland.