 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Baltic Prime Ministers Back Construction Of New Nuclear Plant
Vilnius, Lithuania (AFP) Feb 27, 2006 The prime ministers of the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia gave their backing on Monday to the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania. After holding talks in the Lithuanian resort of Trakai near Vilnius, Prime Ministers Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania, Andrus Ansip of Estonia and Aigars Kalvitis of Latvia issued a joint statement saying they "support the initiative to build a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania." The new plant is to replace an ageing nuclear power station in Ignalina, Lithuania, which has two RBMK reactors, the type that exploded at Chernobyl in the then-Soviet Union in 1986, provoking the world's worst nuclear disaster. One of the reactors at the Ignalina plant was halted on December 31, 2004 in line with commitments made by Lithuania to the European Union ahead of accession. The three Baltic states joined the EU in May 2004. Lithuania also pledged to the EU to close the plant completely in 2009. Latvia's Kalvitis told a press conference after the meeting: "The idea of today's meeting is to develop new production capacities, to build a large-scale power station in the shape of a new nuclear plant in Lithuania, and in so doing, to ensure security and supplies of independent electricity for the next 15 to 20 years." Estonia's Ansip said: "One of our aims is to diversify our sources of energy. This is why we are interested in building a new nuclear power station at Ignalina." The three prime ministers invited Baltic national energy companies to invest in the project. Nearly half of Lithuania's 141 lawmakers are in favour of allowing the Ignalina plant to continue operating well beyond its scheduled closure, until 2016-17, to allow enough time to build a new nuclear plant. The lawmakers have argued that, without a replacement plant for Ignalina, Lithuania would face "huge problems with energy." Last month, the three Baltic states agreed to launch a feasibility study on building a new nuclear power plant. "It is clear that from 2015 all the Baltic states will face a shortage of energy and one of the ways to solve the problem is a new nuclear plant," Lithuanian Economy Minister Kestutis Dauksys had said.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links - Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Outside View The Futures Nuclear
Moscow, Russia (UPI) Feb 13, 2006I am an optimist, and I don't think that natural energy resources will be depleted anytime soon. At any rate, oil and gas, rather than nuclear power, will continue to be the main source of energy, which will be sufficient to ensure the world's steady development until the middle of this century. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
