Lithuania is increasingly tempering its position in negotiating with Ignalina NPP  closure contractors: Ignalina NPP will continue to cooperate with the Russian company Nukem and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Such a posture of our country is determined by the European Commission bureaucrats’ favour to Nukem’s actions and the influence of the same bureaucrats on all international energy projects in Lithuania, delfi.lt reported on 20 February with reference to Verslo Žinios.

Lithuania will have to pay the missing amount (72 million EUR) of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) solid radioactive waste processing and storage complex’ (B2/3/4) construction costs using EU budgetary funds for INPP closure. The project contractor Nukem Technologies company — registered in Germany, owned by Russia’s nuclear technology group Rosatom subsidiary Atomstroyexport — has been requiring to cover the budget hole of the object B2/3/4 for nearly two years.

The Government of Lithuania is yet to formally approve the decision to meet Nukem’s requirements. According to Verslo Žinios, the delay is because it is unclear who should take on the responsibility: current Andrius Kubilius’ Cabinet or the Government of this autumn’s general elections.

The fluency of INPP closure determines the success of other ongoing Lithuanian energy projects, a source from EU said. “The fact is that all questions without exception (electricity and gas interconnections, liquefied natural gas terminal, INPP) are solved by the same EU officers,” – he said.

Since last year, Lithuania is also looking for the opportunities to borrow funds from EURATOM for the construction of the new Visaginas NPP. In order to obtain an ability to submit an official request to EURATOM, the approval from the European Commission must be granted which involves a complicated project coordination procedure.

Translated by Lena Ancevičienė