Lithuania: Overview

 

Map of Lithuanian facilities

Lithuania has only one nuclear facility: the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is highly important to the country, as it provides about 75 percent of Lithuania's energy.[1] It has also been the subject of much controversy, as Lithuania wishes to be accepted into the European Union (EU), which demands the closure of Ignalina, as a precondition for membership. The EU is concerned that Ignalina's Soviet-built RBMK reactors, similar to those at Chernobyl NPP, are unsafe.[2] On 2 May 2000, the Lithuanian Seimas Parliament voted 68 to 25 to pass the law On Decommissioning the First Reactor of the State Facility Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The purpose of the law is to provide the legal underpinning for shutting down Ignalina's Unit 1. The law states that all work to prepare for the shutdown must be completed by 1 January 2005, while the exact date of the final shutdown shall be determined by the government upon consideration of the shutdown program, the shutdown plan, and future financing (both foreign and domestic).

In the summer of 2002, Lithuania agreed to shut down Unit 2 by 2009.[3] The Lithuanian government estimates that the total cost of Ignalina's closure could reach 3 billion Euros ($2.9 billion as of July 2002). The EU will allocate 70 million Euros ($68 million as of July 2002) a year in funding over the 2004-2006 period to help close the reactors.[4] On 2 January 2003, then President Valdas Adamkus announced that Lithuania may consider building a new nuclear power plant to replace Ignalina.[5] Lithuania's newly elected President Rolandas Paksas subsequently echoed this announcement.[6]

Lithuania began working on an export control procedure in 1993, and passed a law on export controls in 1995, though the date of entry into force was ultimately delayed until 1997. A new procedure regulating the import, export, and transit of nuclear materials entered into force in December 1999.  The existing procedure was adjusted to meet European Union legal standards.

Sources:

[1] "Ignalinskuyu AES v Litve posle ostanovki srazu demontiruyut," Interfax, 21 November 2002.

[2] "Adamkus considers new nukes," The Baltic Times, 26 September-2 October 2002.

[3] "Litva budet dobivatsya ot ES uvelicheniya finansovoy pomoshchi na zakrytiye Ignalinskoy AES," Interfax, 29 October 2002.

[4] "Ignalina reactors to close only with EU aid: Parliament," The Baltic Times, No. 329, 17-23 October 2002, p. 5.

[5] "Prezident Litvy prizyvayet iskat vozmozhnosti sokhraneniya atomnoy energetiki strany," Interfax, 2 January 2003.

[6] Natalya Smirnova, "Yadernyy otvet Litvy," Novaya gazeta online edition, http://2003.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2003/08n/n08n-s38.shtml, No. 8, 3 February 2003.{Entered 3/24/03 AI}

For more information, please click the following links:

Lithuania: Export Controls
Lithuania: Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
Lithuania: Power Reactor Table
Lithuania: Reactor Incident Table
Lithuania: Nuclear-Related Government Agencies
Lithuania: Nuclear-Related Legislation
International Organization and Treaty Membership