President Valdas Adamkus said Lithuania would have to consider building a new, safer nuclear power plant to replace the one at Ignalina slated to be closed down in 2009.
Speaking at a NATO-organized seminar on nuclear energy, Adamkus said the country must first carry out a thorough study of the impact of Ignalina's closure and the possibility of attracting foreign investors into a new nuclear energy project.
"We have to acknowledge that the experience of European countries and the United States shows that nuclear plants are a powerful and reliable source of energy and meet the needs of dynamic economic development," Adakus said.
He pointed to the United States, France and Japan as countries that have demonstrated that it's possible to build safe, cost-effective nuclear reactors.
"This is a future prospect that Lithuania must take into account," he said. "Therefore, the closing of currently operating reactors in Ignalina does not deny the possibility of building in future a new nuclear reactor in Lithuania in line with all up-to-date technical and safety requirements."
Lithuania has been under intense pressure from the European Union to close down Iganlina, built with the same reactors as the Chernobyl plant, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
After resisting a commitment to close, the Parliament agreed to shut down both reactors by 2009.
Opposition centered around the massive cost of closing the plant, source of nearly 80 percent of Lithuania's energy.
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