Ignalina closure costs tallied

  • 2002-06-13
  • Baltic News Service, VILNIUS
Lithuania's losses in the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant will reach about 32 billion litas($8.7 billion)over the next 20 years thanks to export losses, higher electricity bills and a rise in taxes to pay for the closure, the daily newspaper Lietuvos Rytas reported June 10.

Thirty-two billion litas equals the country's gross domestic product (GDP) of about nine months. The latest survey showed that without the nuclear plant Lithuania's economic growth would decline by 1 percent each year.

The consequences were presented in a survey on macroeconomic effects of the plant's decommissioning carried out by Raimondas Kuodis, director of Monetary Policy Department at Lithuania's Central Bank.

He said the EU is likely to cover part of funds needed for closure, but it will not refund long-term losses.