Baltic, Polish energy firms to discuss nuclear cooperation

Jan 8, 2007, 16:32 GMT

Riga - The national electricity firms of the Baltic states and Poland are scheduled to meet in Warsaw on Tuesday to discuss plans to jointly construct a nuclear power station in Lithuania.

'The main topic of concern is likely to be which companies will continue in the project, and under what conditions. It's going to be an interesting meeting,' Iveri Marukashvili, spokesman for Estonian firm Eesti Energia, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Following an agreement signed by the premiers of the three Baltic states in February 2006, the Baltics' national energy providers decided to jointly build a nuclear power plant on the site of a Soviet nuclear generator at Ignalina, Lithuania.

But in December the Baltics invited Poland's national energy provider to join the project. Some in the Baltics criticised the move, saying that it could delay the project or reduce the amount of energy available to the original participants.

And last week Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas ignited controversy when he told a Lithuanian radio station that Lithuania should have a controlling stake in the project. Initial agreements had envisaged an equal share in the project for each firm.

Tuesday's meeting between the heads of the four countries' national power companies is expected to discuss how, and to what extent, each country should participate in the project.

'The meeting will allow (us) to get to know the Polish proposals. We aren't going there to sign prepared documents or make decisions,' said Andris Siksnis, spokesman for Latvian firm Latvenergo.

'The original agreement was that all decisions would come from the three (Baltic) companies together,' he added.

Energy security has long been a key concern in the Baltic states. Occupied by the USSR 1940-91, their energy grids were isolated from the West for over 50 years, leaving them heavily reliant on Russia.

And that reliance looked set to increase when the Baltics joined the EU in 2004. Much of the Baltics' power currently comes from a 1500-megawatt Soviet-era nuclear reactor in Ignalina, which Vilnius pledged to close by 2009 as a condition of EU membership.

Proposals for the new plant include building a single 800-megawatt reactor, and building two identical ones. The former option is projected to cost 2.5 billion euros, the latter 4 billion.