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Lithuania creates LEO to build new nuclear energy facility
Vilnius (AFP) May 19, 2008 Lithuania teamed up Tuesday with NDX Energija, a private Lithuanian company, to create LEO, a controversial national investment firm focused on building a nuclear power plant and energy bridges to EU partners. LEO -- Lithuanian Electricity Organization -- merges three energy companies: the state-owned energy companies Lietuvos Energija and energy grid firm RST with grid company VST, owned by NDX Energija. Lietuvos Energija head Rymantas Juozaitis was appointed LEO chief executive. The state will hold a 61.7 percent share in the company, while NDX Energija will hold 38.3 percent. NDX Energija is a part of VP Grupe, Lithuania's largest business conglomerate operating the largest retail network in the three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, including a pharmacy chain as well as leisure and shopping centers. A law adopted by parliament in February stipulates that LEO will build a new nuclear power reactor to replace the Chernobyl-type Ignalina nuclear power plant, a Soviet-era relict due to be shut down in 2009. The new Ignalina reactor, which Lithuania is planning to build with fellow 2004 EU entrants Poland, Latvia and Estonia at a cost of 2.4-4 billion euros (3.75-6.3 billion dollars), is meant to come on stream by 2015, although some experts suggest 2017-2020 is more realistic. LEO is also due to build energy links to Sweden and Poland in a bid to guarantee Lithuania's energy independence. An ex-Soviet state, Lithuania is heavily reliant on Russian energy supplies and this dependence is set to increase further after Iganlina's closure. The planned energy bridges are meant to guarantee its energy security through diversifcation, creating links with fellow EU states and so reducing reliance on Russia. The LEO project has however sparked controversy, with some experts slamming it as going against EU plans to unbundle energy producers and distributors. The Economist Intelligence Unit noted that the process of creating it was not transparent and that "there are no guarantees in the legislation establishing Leo that the company will actually complete the projects outlined for it." It concluded that "the establishment of LEO is neither cost effective nor in the national interest more broadly." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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China says nuclear facilities safe after quake: report
Beijing (AFP) May 20, 2008China said Tuesday that civilian nuclear facilities and radioactive sites buried by the Sichuan province earthquake were "safe and controllable," state press said. |
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