Lithuania looks to Japan

VILNIUS - Lithuania is in talks with Japan about cooperation on nuclear energy after Korea Electric Power Corp. withdrew a bid to build an atomic facility last year, reports Bloomberg. Lithuanian Energy Vice Minister Arvydas Darulis held discussions on Feb. 25 with his counterpart, Yoshikatsu Nakayama, in Tokyo about nuclear power, renewable energy and technologies to increase efficiency, he said after the meeting.

Japan “has a very high standard of nuclear safety” that would allow Lithuania to meet environmental commitments required by the European Union, Darulis said.
Korea Electric Power, South Korea’s biggest electricity producer, withdrew a proposal for a nuclear plant in Lithuania two weeks after submitting a financially “attractive” offer, Deputy Energy Minister Romas Svedas said on Dec. 3.

Lithuania is looking for an investor to build the plant by 2020 through direct negotiations, Svedas said at the time. Lithuania plans to replace its Soviet-built Ignalina facility, which was shut last year to comply with European Union commitments.
“The European Union has very high standards of CO2 emissions, very high standards of environmental policy,” Darulis said. “In order to reach these ambitious targets, we need technologies. We need high technologies. And these technologies are what we believe are here in Japan.”