Estonian energy company about investing in Visaginas NPP: "No, thanks"

On July 30, 2014 the Ministry of Energy of Lithuania and "Hitachi, Ltd." signed the Memorandum of Understanding, where they outlined the intentions to establish an interim project company in order to help the project move forward. The memorandum bears no legal or financial consequences. The "detailed plan for the establishment, functions and structure" of the company was supposed to be prepared in the first half of September and the presented to regional partners. The project can proceed only if the other two Baltic states cooperate.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Management Board of “Eesti Energia" Sandor Liive said in the forum on energy issues that cheap nuclear energy does not exist anymore, and if Lithuanians would approach Estonia with the offer to invest in Visaginas NPP now (quote from August 2014), the answer will be "No". According to Andrius Kubilius, the parliamentary opposition leader, Estonia is the weak link in this project.

In a few moths, the new National Energy Strategy is planned to be approved by Lithuanian Government and the Parliament. The strategy project is part of the wider analysis regarding the perspectives of expansion of Lithuanian energy sector taking into account strategic EU initiatives in energy sector. The study considers scenario with new nuclear power plant among other scenarios, but is critical about it. It says Visaginas NPP Business Plan, upon which calculations of the nuclear scenario are based, is too optimistic in regard to investments needed, construction time, etc. One of the study's authors Arvydas Galinis commented to the media that Visaginas NPP might increase as well as decrease energy security. "If we would look to that security from the point of Chernobyl or Fukushima, the security will hardly increase", - he told to news portal Alfa.lt.

CEO of "Lietuvos energija" said that the Visaginas NPP project can be implemented only with state guarantees.