“We have agreed with the Prime Minister that we will hold meetings in the government after holidays,” he said in an interview to Ziniu Radijas.
According to the minister, “the scientists”, who are still studying the project, “needed somewhat more time to assess additional nuances”. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius earlier said that the task group would provide its proposals in mid-March.
Butkevicius-led Social Democrats criticized the project worked out by the previous center-right government under which the energy companies of the Baltic countries and Japan’s Hitachi were to build a new 1,350 MW nuclear power facility by 2020-2022.
The majority of Lithuanian voters did not back the project in a non-binding referendum that was held in tandem with general elections on Oct. 14. Some 34.09 percent of those who cast ballots said „yes“ to building a nuclear power plant and 62.68 percent said „no“. The voter turnout was 52.58 percent.
After the referendum, the parliament (Seimas) obliged the government to work out “an economically optimal and user-friendly electricity supply strategy”. According to the Seimas resolution, respective bills should be submitted to the parliament by May 15.
Butkevicius has said in a recent interview to the Russian media that the government “is not giving up plans of building a new nuclear power plant but will not rush with the project”.
