Russia To Export Electricity To Lithuania
While Nuclear Power Plant Repaired
Aug 20, 2007 - RIA Novosti
 |
|
The gnalina
nuclear power plant
|
Russia will supply up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity
to Lithuania while the Ignalina nuclear power plant
is being repaired, electricity monopoly Unified Energy
System (UES) said Friday. European Union member Lithuania
is to shut down the second reactor of its Ignalina
NPP by late 2009, in line with EU nuclear safety requirements,
and to build a new plant of about the same capacity
of 3,600 MW by 2015, a project expected to cost $3-4
billion.
"Lithuania has requested that Russia deliver electricity
while routine repairs are carried out at the Ignalina
nuclear power plant," said Margarita Nagoga, a spokeswoman
for UES.
She also said that "should Lithuania stop the NPP
in wintertime, Russia would have been unable to export
electricity."
In this regard, she stressed the importance of building
the second power unit at Russia's Kaliningrad Thermoelectric
Power Plant.
Under pressure from European countries, Lithuania
decommissioned the Ignalina NPP's first power-generating
unit in 2004. The decision made the Lithuanian energy
sector more dependent on Russian natural gas supplies.
The country could have run the NPP much longer, with
the first and second units being operational until
2008 and 2032, respectively.
The Ignalina NPP is similar to the one in Chernobyl,
Ukraine, the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident
in 1986. Source: RIA Novosti
|
