VILNIUS - Lithuania's top two political figures hit the road over the past week to lay out the country's arguments in favor of an extension of the Ignalina power plant and alternative energy supplies for the region.
Speaking at the European Nuclear Energy Forum in Prague, Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas once again asked EU partners to consider postponing the closure of the Ignalina nuclear reactor, calling for a "a different shutdown mode" instead.
The prime minister said Lithuania intended to honor all its commitments to close the plant but that all the measures designed to offset the reactor's shutdown 's from new generating capacities to grid links with neighboring Poland 's would not be ready until 2012 at the earliest.
"We have a two-year gap where we face a doubling of electricity prices, doubling of carbon emissions and, according to our feasibility studies, a 4.0 percent fall in GDP, with the social consequences that will result," Kirkilas warned.
He said therefore a different mode of shutdown should be considered.
Pursuant to its pre-accession agreement with the European Union, Lithuania is obliged to close the Ignalina plant 's a Soviet reactor like the one that blew up in Chernobyl in 1986 's by the end of 2009.
The reactor accounts for over 70 percent of the Baltic state's electricity needs, and since Lithuania is not connected to the European grid, it will have to import kilowatts from Russia, something it is loathe to do given Russia's proven lack of reliability.
Kirkilas notified the forum about these threats to Lithuania's national security after 2009.
There was no immediate reaction to Kirkilas' plea from other forum participants, which included European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
However, Alejo Vidal Quadras, a Spanish member of the European Parliament, said that it might be possible to extend the reactor's life but that Lithuanian leaders had to take more efforts to prove that the plant is safe and that the energy situation has changed since 2004, when the Baltic state joined the EU.
"If Lithuania submits to the European Commission an objective study of the possibilities of extending Ignalina's operations, conducted by independent experts and based on solid arguments and, most importantly, on high safety standards, I would be in favor of keeping the plant running," Vidal-Quadras was quoted by the Lietuvos Rytas as saying.
In his words, "An agreement signed with the EU can only be changed if the European Parliament gives its blessing. That is not easy, but I would make an effort if I were the Lithuanian government," Vidal-Quadras said.
Meanwhile, many European leaders called on Brussels to help facilitate the revival of nuclear energy given the rocketing price for oil, as well as the unreliability of the commodity's distributors.
"We are more and more dependent on oil and gas imported from unstable parts of the world at high prices," said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. "We have come to a time today where we must do more than talk about nuclear energy."
In Topolanek's pithy warning, "It is really five minutes to midnight."
Europe currently produces about one-third of Europe's electricity and approximately 15 percent of its total energy needs. However, after the incidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, nuclear energy became taboo, with countries such as Germany and Italy canceling projects.
The first new nuclear power plant in Europe in nearly two decades is being built in Finland. It also promises to be the largest nuclear power plant in the world.
Barroso acknowledged the return to the peaceful atom. "The trend is in the direction of more and not less nuclear energy 's the question is to know when we will take a decision in Europe," he said.
Barosso said, however, that the European Commission would not promote nuclear power to EU members who have "an absolute right to choose freely." Some EU countries, such as Austria, fiercely oppose nuclear power.
In a speech at an energy security summit in Kiev, President Valdas Adamkus said that Lithuania has increased its efforts to solve its vulnerabilities as an "energy island" in the European Union.
"Recently, Lithuania has taken numerous steps to become a more responsible energy partner," he said.
"For example, we have substantially increased our efforts to solve the problem of the EU 'energy island' to which the Baltic states belong. We are developing power bridges with Poland and Sweden," the president said.
Adamkus said that Lithuania and Poland have just established a joint venture for building an energy link between the two countries and that "consistent and speedy progress in developing another commercially viable project 's a power bridge with Sweden 's would send a clear and strong message to Europe that Lithuania and its partners are serious about dealing with the 'energy island' problem."
The Kiev summit was part of an ongoing series of meetings among East European presidents (the last was held in Vilnius in October) aimed at broadening sources of energy, particularly oil and natural gas.
The heads of state of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania are keen on building a north-south pipeline route that would circumvent Russia and deliver crude oil from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia to Eastern Europe.
Russia decided to cut crude oil supplies to Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta refinery complex in July 2006. Though Moscow cited a pipeline rupture in Belarus, it has refused to allow Lithuanians to inspect the site, leading many to conclude that the move was made to punish the Baltic state.
Mazeikiu Nafta, which is owned by Polish interests, is now forced to import crude via tankers, a much more expensive alternative than pipeline oil.
