17 Jul (NucNet): Lithuanian lawmakers have approved a proposal to hold a referendum in October on whether to go ahead with construction of the planned Visaginas nuclear station.
NucNet sources in Lithuania said the Seimas (parliament) met in an extraordinary session yesterday and decided by a vote of 62 to 39 with 18 abstentions that the referendum will be held on 14 October 2012, along with national elections.
Lithuania is planning to build a 1,350-megawatt GE-Hitachi advanced boiling water reactor next to the existing Ignalina nuclear site about 150 kilometres northeast of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.
The Visaginas unit is planned to help replace generation from the two 1,300-megawatt Ignalina reactors that were shut down as part of Lithuania's EU membership agreement.
The country’s lawmakers approved the referendum proposal despite prime minister Andrius Kubilius calling for parliament to reject the initiative because it is “not necessary”.
President Dalia Grybauskaite said the referendum would be “another opportunity and obligation for the government to better introduce the public to this project”.
In June 2012, parliament approved an agreement which provides the contractual framework for Visaginas.
The government had planned to sign an agreement with strategic investor Hitachi to proceed with engineering and preparation work.
A final investment decision on whether or not to go ahead with the project is expected in 2015. Hitachi has said the new unit could be commercially operational by 2021 or 2022.
As plans stand, Hitachi would own 20 percent of shares in the Visaginas unit and Lithuania would hold 38 percent. Latvia and Estonia would take stakes of 20 percent and 22 percent respectively. Those stakes could change if Poland joins the project.
