New doubts about Ignalina plant

VILNIUS -- The discussion over arrangements for the proposed new Ignalina nuclear power plant show no sign of being resolved any time soon with news that Poland may be considering pulling out of the project altogether.

A report in the Wall Street Journal Polska, taken up subsequently by financial newswire Bloomberg, quoted unnamed Polish Economics Ministry sources as expressing serious reservations about 'Ignalina II'.

Lithuanian Economy Minister Vytas Navickas denied that he had heard any such information from his Polish counterpart.

"I think that information is untrue since I met with the new Polish economy minister in Brussels on December 3, and there were no indications that Poland might pull out of the nuclear power plant project," Navickas said in a radio interview.

Moreover, no doubts concerning the project had been voiced at the meeting of the presidents of the two countries held in late December, he added.

The new power plant in Lithuania is expected to be built by four countries - Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, which is currently trying to establish a company, Leo LT, to handle the project.

Lithuanian plans envisage an arrangement by which Lithuania would hold 34 percent of a joint venture, with the other three countries getting a 22 percent stake. However, Poland has previously demanded that it would need to receive at least a third of the plant's eventual electricity output for it to be an attractive proposition.

The 6 billion euro plant was initially aiming for a 2012 switch-on date. Officially the target is now 2015, though most experts agree that 2020 is a more realistic date.

Lithuania's government faces difficulties at home as well as regarding the uncertain status of Polish commitment to the project. Lithuania's opposition Conservatives are voicing doubts about the economy minister's statements that Leo LT is the right vehicle to building the new nuclear plant plus proposed power grid links to both Sweden and Poland.

The Conservatives' leader Andrius Kubilius said that a Dec. 3 meeting between the party and Vytas Navickas produced an impression that the negotiations with the private equity company NDX Energija on establishment of the national investor company were not yet completed.

"There is no consistent explanation, our doubts were raised further," Kubilius told journalists after the meeting.

Responding, Navickas said the shareholder agreement between the government and NDX Energija contained sufficient guarantees, saying "The agreement and draft bylaws of the company clearly state that the company pursues its aims and primary task plans to build a nuclear power plant and both energy bridges to Sweden and Poland."

Leo LT would be created by merging the state-owned shares in the distribution grid operator Rytu Skirstomieji Tinklai (RST) and in Lietuvos Energija with NDX Energija's shares in VST. The state would retain 61.7 percent of Leo LT.