Energy, EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant

Lithuanian Energy Vice Minister Arvydas Darulis held discussions today with his counterpart, Yoshikatsu Nakayama, in Tokyo today about nuclear power, renewable energy and technologies to increase efficiency, he said after the meeting.

Japan "has very high standard of nuclear safety" that would allow Lithuania to meet environmental commitments required by the European Union, Darulis said.

Korea Electric Power, South Korea's biggest electricity producer, withdrew a proposal for a nuclear plant in Lithuania two weeks after submitting a financially "attractive" offer, Deputy Energy Minister Romas Svedas said on December 3, writes LETA/ELTA, referring to Bloomberg.

Lithuania is looking for an investor to build the plant by 2020 through direct negotiations, Svedas said at the time.

Lithuania plans to replace its Soviet-built Ignalina facility, which was shut last year to comply with European Union commitments.

"European Union has very high standards of CO2 emissions, very high standard of environmental policy," Darulis said. "In order to reach these ambitious targets, we need technologies. We need high technologies. And these technologies are what we believe are here in Japan."