TALLINN - The Ministry of Economy has recommended that Parliament turn down a bill on extending operations of the second unit of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.
The ministry noted that the second unit of INPP should be shut down on Dec. 31, 2009, as set out in Lithuania's EU Accession Treaty. "The date of INPP unit shutdown and the terms for the change of that date have been set out both in national legislation and Lithuania's international obligations," the ministry said in its report to the government.
In the ministry's opinion, the application to amend that provision could only be lodged if any sector of the domestic economy faced grave problems, which could drag on or harm the economic environment in any region, within a three-year period from the date of accession.
"We cannot claim that the conditions prescribed for the modification of the shutdown date are in place already," the ministry said. The government was to consider the ministry's opinion on March 29.
Parliament backed the above mentioned bill, which was authored by Liberal Democratic MP Julius Veselka, during the first reading in December. In recent months the issue has been topical. Russia's use of energy as a political tool, and its lack of progress in creating a power bridge between Poland and Lithuania, has heightened fears about the country's energy dependence after 2009. Lithuanian leaders are also lobbying Brussels for an understanding of the Baltic state's unique energy predicament among EU members. As set out in the bill, operation of the second unit of INPP, coordinated with the European Union, could be extended. This would allow international nuclear energy experts to deem the unit as technically safe. However, the term should not exceed the period required to build a new reactor or upgrade the functioning reactor.
The first unit of INPP, which is considered unsafe by the West, was shut down on Dec. 31, 2004.
