VILNIUS - Preliminary statements on talks between Lithuania and the European Commission on possibly extending the life of the Ignalina nuclear reactor appear to indicate that there is an enormous gap to bridge before the two sides can reach a satisfactory compromise.
Dominique Ristori, deputy director general of the commission's Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, told journalists on April 3 that allowing the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant to operate beyond its Dec. 31, 2009 shutdown date is "not an option."
Lithuania is hoping to prove to Eurocrats that the country will face serious problems if the reactor is shut down according to a plan agreed upon long before the country joined the EU in 2004.
The country's emergency negotiator will attempt to prove that Lithuania will undergo a sharp rise in inflation and become vulnerable to supply disruptions as a result of its post-2009 energy dependence.
Pressed on this point, Ristori said, "If the economic situation in Lithuania is complicated, we will have to assess that in order to ensure the security of energy supply."
Kirkilas, for his part, said that the country doesn't want to extend the reactor's life indefinitely and would like to win a "modification" of the deadline, perhaps a postponement to mid-2012.
The extra two-and-a-half years will allow the country to hook up its electricity grid to Poland, and possibly Sweden as well. As things stand now, Lithuania is still isolated from the EU energy system.
Ristori said that the commission could help fast-track the links to Poland and Sweden. The connection with Poland is already considered an EU priority project.
EU member states have invested hundreds of millions of euros to ensure safety at the Ignalina plant, a Soviet designed reactor of the Chernobyl type that scares Europeans. Lithuania closed the first reactor at the end of 2004 and continues to provide for some 70 percent of its electricity needs via the second reactor.
Lithuania plans to build a new atomic power plant 's possibly one larger than the original Ignalina plant 's but the project is unlikely to be up and running before 2020.
Aleksandas Abisala, Lithuania's emergency diplomat with the EU on the Ignalina issue, said there was a way to put off closing the second reactor without violating pre-accession agreements.
"We are in the same boat. The best solution for both sides would be a slow switch-off of the second block of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant," he said.
"The European Commission's duty is to ensure that the agreement is honored. We are looking for ways not to breach the agreement," Abisala, a former prime minister, said.
Abisala stressed that although Ristori said keeping the reactor operational was not an alternative, the option was still on the table and open to discussion.
"I have not heard a statement that some topics are forbidden... I have not heard that the question on the closure of Ignalina plant will not be put forward since I have been told that the legal situation is clear," Abisala said.
Speaking earlier that day, Kirkilas said Lithuania might use the inflation argument in support of extending the reactor. The consumer price index has already reached double-digit territory, and another bout of the same in 2010 could send the country into a recession.
"Lithuania alone is not plagued by inflation. So we have chances to discuss and speak about it, when the conditions have changed totally," the prime minister told the Ziniu Radijas station.
He said extending Ignalina's lifespan would benefit both Lithuania and the European Union.
Meanwhile, a Lithuanian think-tank has estimated that some 6.8 billion litas (2 billion euros) in public, private and the European Union funds will be needed in 2008-2015 so as to mitigate the negative consequences of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant shutdown.
The Lithuanian Energy Institute, which carried out the analysis as part of a national security study, estimated that the largest amount, or 1.2 billion litas 's would be invested into the 400 megawatt combined cycle gas turbine at Lietuvos Elektrine (Lithuanian Power Plant). Another 890 million litas will have to be plowed into a 320 megawatt unit at Kaunas combined heat and power plant.
According to the institute's estimates, the underwater 100 MW cable due to link Lithuania and Sweden by 2016 would cost 690 million litas, while a similar power link to Poland would total 543 million litas.
The Lietuvos Elektrine and Kaunas units might be operational in 2012, the study estimated.
