Ignalina provides 70 per cent of Lithuania's electricity, and when it shuts down the nation will have nowhere to turn for its energy supplies except Russia - the very country that, in its Soviet guise, annexed Lithuania in the 1940s, deported tens of thousands of its people to Siberia, and did not permit the nation's independence until the Soviet Union itself fell apart in 1991.
"We're becoming an energy-isolated island. I'd even call it a Russian monopoly," says Valdas Adamkus, Lithuania's president. "We don't understand the real reason why the EU insisted on closing the Ignalina plant, which is very safe operationally. Finland is building new nuclear power units, and Lithuania is being forced to close something that's not broken. If you ask if it's unfair or not, I don't believe it is fair."
Lithuania Loses Nuclear Power
...and they're not happy about facing an even deeper reliance on Russian energy, but such are the requirements being invited to the European club. The Financial Times reports on the upcoming closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant:
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Remember also that Lithuania is still a part of the electric grid of the former USSR, and therefore, the only way to import large amounts of electricity for them is that from Russia.
I recently wrote on that issue at http://www.energyblogs.com/atomwatch/.
As for another nuclear power option such as new Visaginas plant in place of Ignalina, it will take a lot of time and efforts. Estonia and Poland are already announcing plans to get own nuclear facilities, and Russia is constructing a large NPP in Kaliningrad. These will cover the capacity of the region completely.
Thanks for this link - very interesting maps of the grid you have over there.