BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
22/10/2010
Lithuania rejects Belarus offer for joint nuclear plant
Lithuania has no plans to join a nuclear power plant construction project in Belarus as offered by the neighboring country and will focus on its own project instead, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said.
Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko offered late last week to his Lithuanian counterpart Dalia Grybauskaite to build a joint nuclear plant, according to a report by Bloomberg. Lithuania invited bids from potential investors to build its own facility to replace the Soviet-made Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant that was shut in December.
"If we construct it on our own, you will inevitably have to purchase electric energy generated by our plant. If we construct it together, you will get electric energy from your plant," Baltic News Service quoted his as saying. Lukashenko also promised to meet Lithuania's energy needs.
However, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian president said Grybauskaite was skeptical about the Belarusian president's proposal since she thought there was no need for a large plant in the region. The spokesperson also said such power plant management would be too complicated due to the different systems of national law.
Kubilius, in a radio interview with Ziniu Radijas, echoed Grybauskaite's remarks and said the Baltic country was not prepared to consider such proposals. "We have our own nuclear power plant project that we devote all our effort, time, wisdom and financial resources to."
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