Nuclear energy discussed in Rezekne

  • 2010-04-21
  • From wire reports

Aleksandrs Bartasevics claims more power for the provinces.

RIGA - The decision on whether or not to build a nuclear power station at Rezekne, if such a possibility arises, would be in the hands of the local public, say Rezekne municipal authorities, reports Nozare.lv. Rezekne Mayor Aleksandrs Bartasevics (Harmony Center) recently gave an interview to the Russian news portal Regnum where, among discussion of other issues, he indicated that the city was open to various types of foreign investment, including the building of a nuclear power station near the city.

Information on the possible power station construction at Rezekne later appeared elsewhere in the media, with some sources claiming that construction was on the verge of getting underway. Inquiries have also been made into public opinion on the prospect, which seems to be divided.

The Russian nuclear energy corporation Rosatom has said it has not yet received any proposal from the mayor on the construction of the power station. Rosatom representative Sergey Novikov explained that the idea of building a power station at Rezekne, however, was worth considering for his company. “We are positive about this initiative,” said Novikov.
Rosatom recently started the construction of a nuclear power station in Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea, for which 61.9 million lats (88.4 million euros) will be allocated this year, with a further 137.6 million lats to come in 2011.
The Rezekne city government said that the mayor had not held official negotiations with Rosatom, but indicated that he had met with many officials on his visits abroad. Rezekne and the surrounding region have been hit particularly hard by the current recession, with the highest unemployment rate in Latvia, and a death rate many times higher than the birth rate.

The mayor had come forward with an initiative to build a nuclear power station not far from the city, reported the Telegraf newspaper. According to Bartasevics, for now the initiative is entirely “from our side,” although there had been discussions with certain parties from the Russian side.
The mayor is convinced that building a nuclear power station in Latvia with the support of Rosatom is entirely possible. “Everything seems to come down to financing, and Latvia itself would not take this forward. But if Rosatom is involved, investors will be found,” he explained.

For Bartasevics, the most important issue is the region’s development, and therefore he feels he has the right to come forward with such a proposal without discussions with the Latvian central government. The mayor allows that a nuclear power station in Rezekne could be built faster than one in Lithuania.
The electric utility Latvenergo initially took this story to be an April Fool’s Day joke, without denying that Latvia should think about increasing its energy capacity, including through nuclear energy; however, the implementation of such a project would require 15 - 20 years, and require massive investment.

Latvenergo representative Andris Siksnis said that he was confident that Latvia would have its own nuclear power station in the future, but that he was not so sure that it would be constructed by a Russian firm.