“We are working on a joint position of the three countries' companies and Hitachi on economic viability of the project of Visaginas nuclear facility, which is what we were told to do by the energy ministry,” Misiūnas told BNS on Friday. On Thursday, he discussed the issue with Sandor Liive, the head of Eesti Energia, in Tallinn.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius has stated repeatedly that the final decision on the new nuclear facility should be taken in fall.
“The government has authorized Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy) to coordinate this issue so that the state-owned energy companies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could open discussions and decide on economic relevance. Those discussions continue – now they center on economic justification of this project. I think they will complete this task in fall so it will be reported in fall,” he said in an interview to BNS on Friday.
The parties intend to work out the joint position by the second half of September or by October 1 at the latest, Misiūnas says.
Misiūnas plans to meet with the head of Latvenergo in the near future. Previously he met with the representatives of Hitachi.
The government has yet to decide whether to build the new nuclear power plant. In May, the Cabinet gave Energy Minister Jaroslav Neverovič until July for discussions with Latvians, Estonians, and Hitachi on whether the Visaginas project was acceptable to them under new conditions. If the partners decided to go ahead with the project together, then a final decision on setting up a company for the implementation of the project would be made by October 1.
