Lithuania

Ignalina NPP: first time an International decommissioning project finished in accordance with initial planned contract schedule and budget

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The consortium of the Energiewerke Nord GmbH (EWN), Sintagma UAB and Ernst & Young Baltic UAB successfully completed in September 2008 the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) decommissioning management system and database (DMSD) project.

The joint team with subcontractors IBM and CORE2 provided all services according to the project schedule of 14 months. Beside the delivery of a comprehensive set of different IT equipment, an enlarged training of nominated INPP staff was performed. The project was financed by the International Ignalina Decommissioning Support Fund managed by the Central Project Management Agency with the overall value of 3.5 million EUR.

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Abisala: Lithuania has lost the fight on Ignalina nuclear power plant

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Aleksandras Abisala, chief negotiator over the extension of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, who used to speak about the considerable growth of the possibility to reach an agreement on the extension of the operation of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, now claims that Lithuania has lost this fight.

After the last week"s European Council in Brussels, when the hopes concerning the extension of the operation of the Ignalina nuclear power plant diminished, Abisala admits that Lithuania has lost the fight, lrt.lt writes.

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Energy-hungry Poland eyes nuclear plants

Thursday, October 16, 2008

WARSAW - Poland hopes to reduce its heavy reliance on coal, which produces harmful greenhouse gases, by building a few nuclear power plants by 2030, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak said on Thursday.

Pawlak's ministry is currently working on a new energy strategy designed to meet the Polish economy's booming demand for electricity and to modernize its communist-era power plants.

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Lithuania nuclear referendum falls short

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Vilnius - A referendum held in Lithuania to decide the future of the Baltic nation's only nuclear power plant has failed to attract the necessary number of voters to be judged valid, official sources said on Monday. Lithuania agreed to close its Ignalina nuclear power plant by 2009 as part of its deal to join the European Union in 2004. A planned replacement, to be built jointly with Estonia, Latvia and Poland, is unlikely to be ready before 2015.

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Nuclear power project is fraught with 'ordeals', expert says

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The Belarusian government’s plans to build a nuclear power plant are fraught with “multiple troubles and ordeals for the people,” Belarusian expert Heorhiy Lepin said at an international conference in Vilnius on October 9.

He described nuclear energy programs as “the most costly and the most hazardous of all power generation technologies.” “This danger is connected not only with the possibility of accidents: a nuclear reactor pollutes the environment during its routine operation,” Dr. Lepin said.

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Lithuania wants EU aid or will keep nuclear plant

Saturday, October 11, 2008

VILNIUS, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Lithuania may have to defy the European Union and keep its Ignalina nuclear power plant open beyond 2009 if the EU cannot help it assure energy supplies, the prime minister and economy minister said on Thursday.

Lithuania agreed under its EU entry treaty to close Ignalina, which has the same kind of reactors as at Chernobyl in Ukraine, where the world's worst nuclear disaster happened in 1986.

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Russia and Belarus will have nuclear power plants close to Lithuania

Friday, September 26, 2008

Russia and Belarus will both have nuclear power plants close to Lithuania by the time Ignalina nuclear power plant has a replacement, The Baltic Times quotes the president of the Lithuanian Industrialists’ Confederation and the majority owner of Achema Group, Bronislavas Lubys.

Lubys said that he is certain that before Lithuania builds its planned new nuclear power plant, Russia and Belarus will construct two new atomic power stations in the region.

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Alleged Nuclear Misdeeds Hit Lithuanian Graft Rank -Watchdog

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AFP)--Alleged misdealings over a nuclear power plant project dented Lithuania's standing on a global corruption list, watchdog Transparency International said Tuesday, but the prime minister rejected the claim.

Rytis Juozapavcius, head of the organization's Lithuanian chapter, spotlighted the Lithuanian Electricity Organization, or LEO LT, which is piloting a four-nation plan to built a new nuclear power station in the Baltic state.

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Lithuania eyes 4 suppliers for nuclear reactors

Monday, September 22, 2008

VILNIUS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Lithuania said on Monday it will choose reactors for a new nuclear power plant from four suppliers, including French Areva and U.S. General Electric, but excluding Russian companies.

Lithuania aims to build a new nuclear power plant by 2016-2020 in cooperation with neighbouring Latvia, Estonia and Poland, with a tender to supply reactors to be launched in 2010.

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Lithaunia nuclear project smaller than planned

Thursday, September 18, 2008

VILNIUS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The company leading work on Lithuania's new $10 billion nuclear power station said on Thursday it would target capacity of 2,200 megawatts, lower than originally forecast.

A draft environmental impact study said the plant could be built to generate up to 3,200-3,400 MW, accommodating the demands of project partners Poland, Latvia and Estonia, all keen to lessen their dependence on Russian energy supplies.

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