Lithuania gets added EU aid for nuclear closure
Date: 17-Dec-02
Country: LITHUANIA
"Up to 30 million euros of Phare 2003 support will be allocated in addition to the 285 million euros which the EU has committed for the special Ignalina programme in 2004-2006," the Lithuanian government's Europe Committee said in a statement, quoting a letter from the European Commission.
For the sake of EU entry, Lithuania has pledged to close one of Ignalina's reactors by 2005 and the other in 2009.
The EU considers the facility unsafe as it shares the same design as Ukraine's ill-fated Chernobyl plant.
It has agreed to guarantee in a special protocol to the country's accession treaty that the EU will continue to help finance the decommissioning work also after 2006.
Lithuania estimates the effort will cost more than 3 billion euros over a 30 year period, and so far has set aside 46 million euros of its own and amassed 216 million euros in an international donor fund.
The government said the Phare money was for waste management and storage projects.
In 2001, Ignalina accounted for 77.6 percent of all electricity produced in the ex-Soviet state, making it the world's most nuclear-reliant country.
Lithuania was one of 10 countries to complete EU accession negotiations on Friday, and expects to join the bloc in 2004.