VILNIUS 's Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas has added his voice to those of Economics Minister Vytas Navickas and President Valdas Adamkus by speculating about extending the life of the Ignalina nuclear power plant.
If Lithuania does not succeed in persuading the European Union of the need for an extension, the country would become more dependent on Russia's energy resources, Kirkilas said, Oct. 18 in an interview to the Ziniu Radijas news radio station.
"There are a few possibilities - first of all, electricity imports via the bridge from Scandinavia, and imports from the East - Russia and Ukraine, which have both offered to sell us electrical energy. Furthermore, we have capabilities in Lithuania, as well - firstly, the Lithuanian power station, which will build new blocks but they will use 40-50 percent more gas and that means bigger dependence on Russia's gas," Kirkilas said.
Lithuania is committed to decommission the Soviet-built Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in the end of 2009 and hopes to build a new reactor by 2015. But deals on the construction of a replacment plant remain stymied along with another agreement to build a power bridge between Lithuania and Poland.
