Poland signs up to new Baltic nuclear plant

Poland has teamed up with Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to build a new nuclear power plant in the latter country. The plant will replace Chernobyl-type reactors in Ignalina, which are due to be closed in 2009.

Lithuania and Poland also signed a deal to build a power link between the countries by 2012. Latvia and Estonia could join this project, but they have not yet been invited.

In October, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia agreed to pool resources to build the new plant. According to a feasibility study, the new 800-1,600 megawatt plant with one or two reactors would be built by 2015 and cost R2.5-4 (zł.10-15) billion. Now that Poland has joined the project, two reactors could be built and Poland is pushing for a construction date before 2015.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczyński said Warsaw wants all four nations to share the costs and benefits of the project equally. "Four countries, four equal parts," he told a news conference.

Before the deal was struck, the Prime Ministers of the Baltic states said they would welcome Poland into the Ignalina project, but wanted to move fast and needed solid proposals from Warsaw. "It is not enough for Poland to say it wants to join, we want to hear names of concrete companies, we don't want to waste time," Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip insisted. Polish power-grid operator PSE could take part in the project, according to one Lithuanian government source.

On Thursday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Kirkilas hinted Sweden could also be a partner, given that both countries plan to link their grids with a cable under the Baltic sea. (Reuters)