Wisagińska EIektrownia Jądrowa – inwestycja wciąż wysokiego ryzyka
Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant – still a high-risk investment

Author(s): Joanna Hyndle-Hussein
Subject(s): Energy and Environmental Studies, Environmental and Energy policy
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Summary/Abstract: On June 21, the Lithuanian Parliament approved the construction project of a new nuclear power plant in Visaginas, Lithuania. The deputies agreed that the government would sign the initialed on 30 March 2012, a concession agreement with the Japanese company Hitachi Ltd., which took the position of a strategic investor and will deliver a modern reactor with a capacity of 1350 MW. The Lithuanian authorities did not succeed in their original intention to attract a Western investor to the project, willing to take over in it 51% of shares. Pursuant to the agreement, Hitachi is to hold only 20% of the future shares power plant, the initial cost of which is estimated at EUR 5 billion. Despite Hitachi's lower-than-announced financial commitment, its share as an investor and supplier of a modern reactor is to constitute a guarantee that the implementation of the project is economically viable. Most of the financial risk, however, will be borne by Lithuania itself will take up 38% of the power plant's shares. Participation negotiations are currently underway in the project of power companies from the Baltic region. Estonia would like to cover 22% and Latvia 20%. Approval of the Lithuanian Seimas for the government's plans to build a power plant and the agreement with Hitachi does not yet determine the implementation of the investment. final the decision to start construction is to be made in 2015 and that's it time, one should expect intensified actions by opponents of the project. On July 14, opposition deputies managed to push through the holding together with the parliamentary elections in Lithuania, scheduled for October 14, consultative referendum on the construction of Visaginas. NO it will have binding force, but it may have, together with the following ones initiatives of opponents of the nuclear power plant, impact on opportunities project implementation.

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