Bids received for nuclear project

  • 2011-06-29
  • From wire reports

VILNIUS - Westinghouse Electric Company, the U.S.-based arm of Japan’s Toshiba Corp, said on June 23 that it was ready to take a stake in a new Lithuanian nuclear power plant, reports Reuters. Lithuania has said it could offer a strategic investor up to 51 percent of the new plant it wants to build and to come online by 2020, with the rest shared between itself and its regional partners.

Anders Jackson, Westinghouse president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the government’s backing for the project showed how important it was for the Baltic region. “That is matched by our own commitment to be a shareholder and partner to ensure its success,” he told reporters after meeting with Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.
“Indeed, Westinghouse is so confident that this project will be successful that we are investing in it ourselves,” he added.
Kubilius has repeatedly said that Lithuania was looking for both the investor and the technology supplier, as well as a “competitive electricity price.”

Westinghouse said it has offered its latest AP-1000 reactor, which still has to receive final approval in the U.S., which is expected later in 2011, the company said. By utilizing ‘passive safety,’ the AP-1000 relies only on natural forces such as gravity and thermal convection to ensure the reactor is always in a safe condition. That means the plant is capable of withstanding any credible emergency event - including loss of all offsite power supplies, the company says.
The meeting in Vilnius followed a government meeting with Japan’s Hitachi and Hitachi GE Nuclear Energy, who had presented a competing bid.

Lithuania wants to build a new nuclear power plant to cut energy dependence on neighboring Russia, the sole supplier of natural gas, after shutting the Soviet-era Ignalina nuclear plant in 2009 under agreement with the European Union.
Lithuanian officials earlier estimated the project to cost some 3-4 billion euros. The planned maximum capacity of the projected Visaginas nuclear plant is 1,300 megawatts, which is half the capacity of the Ignalina plant.

The funds necessary for the construction work have not been disclosed yet. Preparatory works are expected to start in 2012.
Kubilius says that the decision on which company, Westinghouse Electric Company or Japan’s Hitachi, to choose as investor in the Visaginas nuclear power plant will be made in July.

He said on Ziniu Radijas that “These are meetings during which the companies present their bids for strategic investment in the construction of the Visaginas nuclear plant using their nuclear reactor technologies. Such meetings could be described as introductory, because they do not focus on detailed figures, which are the concern of our negotiators, the concession commission.”

The prime minister stressed that strategic investors should convince not only the government, but also regional partners that the cost price of produced electricity would be competitive.

“At the moment, there are two competitors for a strategic investor, Hitachi and Westinghouse. This competition is beneficial to us since each of them tries to prove that their bid is better, and that additionally improves it. As we know, later on, talks will take place, and when the company is selected, talks will be held to guarantee more beneficial propositions, and finally the concession contract will be given to the Seimas for approval,” explained Kubilius. “We expect to choose the company for further talks in July.”