Lithuania Advances Visaginas Nuclear Project

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Lithuania's attempts to get the troubled Visaginas nuclear power plant project off the ground took a positive step forward this week after the government signed a Concession Agreement with Hitachi Ltd (Tokyo, Japan).

The agreement with Lithuania's Energy and Transport Ministry sets out the contractual framework for getting the plant built by 2020-2022. The contentious project will now need to get approval from the government. If successful, the work will be carried out by U.S.-Japanese consortium Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (Tokyo, Japan) and energy consortium Visaginas Atomic Energy (VAE) (Vilnius, Lithuania). VAE is a joint effort between power companies from the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

Visaginas, which will be located in the northeast of the country, will have a generating capacity of 1,300-megawatts (MW) and will cost an estimated €4.8 billion ($6.5 billion). Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy has proposed its 1,300 MW Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) design. There is potential for the plant to be expanded to 3,400 MW, in the future. The plant is seen as essential for Lithuania to cut its high dependence on Russian gas and electricity imports.

"Today we concluded negotiations with the strategic investor, Hitachi, to open the door for the biggest investment in Lithuania ever," said Prime Minister, Andrius Kubilius. "The Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant presents Lithuania and the Baltic region with a once in a lifetime opportunity to diversify energy sources and enhance energy security and independence as well as continue our integration into Europe."

Last July, Lithuania chose Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy as its strategic partner to build the new plant, ending the chances of rival Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Monroeville, Pennsylvania). For additional information see July 18, 2011, article - Lithuania Picks Hitachi-GE For Nuclear Contract.

The project has suffered a number of knockbacks in recent years, the most serious of which was the withdrawal of Poland's state-owned, Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE) (Warsaw, Poland) last December. PGE was a founding member of Visaginas Atomic Energy but backed away from the project in order to focus on Poland's return to nuclear power. For additional information see December 14, 2011, article - Poland's PGE Drops Lithuanian Nuclear Project.

Visaginas will be built near the old Soviet-era Ignalina nuclear power plant, which was shut down in 2009 as part of Lithuania's conditions for entering the European Union (E.U.).

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