Kubilius: shutdown to cost hundreds of millions

VILNIUS — The prime minister admitted on radio that the delayed shutdown of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant will cost the country hundreds of millions of litai after the EU cuts off funding.

The shutdown and storage of nuclear fuel and waste is a costly procedure and works are far behind schedule. Storage tanks that should have been built two years ago are still not ready and various other ailments are delaying work. Investigators have begun working on the case to see who is criminally liable for the disappearance of funds. The decommissioning of the plant is [private_supervisor]behind schedule at least three years, officials say.

“There are projects that are late. Because of this there are quite a lot of delays in the payment of additional money. The number of additional money we will need won’t be a million or ten million – it will be hundreds of millions of litai or euros. These things we won’t find out until the very end,” Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said in a radio interview Thursday.

Kubilius is hoping that the EU will continue to support the country.

“I still hope that we will continue to receive European Union support for the closure of the Ignalina, because we have to remember that the nuclear power is closed purely because of our solidarity, because this has been agreed with the European Union…certainly for ourselves alone to realize such a project would be quite difficult,” Kubilius said.

Lithuania has received about €1.3 billion from the European Commission and still expects to receive another €1.2 billion. The plant closure deadline is 2030.

Last week officials handed over documents from the power plant to the prosecutor general, the Financial Crimes Investigation Service and the Special Investigation Service in the hope that the culprits could be found and charged. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]behind schedule at least three years, officials say.

“There are projects that are late. Because of this there are quite a lot of delays in the payment of additional money. The number of additional money we will need won’t be a million or ten million – it will be hundreds of millions of litai or euros. These things we won’t find out until the very end,” Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said in a radio interview Thursday.

Kubilius is hoping that the EU will continue to support the country.

“I still hope that we will continue to receive European Union support for the closure of the Ignalina, because we have to remember that the nuclear power is closed purely because of our solidarity, because this has been agreed with the European Union…certainly for ourselves alone to realize such a project would be quite difficult,” Kubilius said.

Lithuania has received about €1.3 billion from the European Commission and still expects to receive another €1.2 billion. The plant closure deadline is 2030.

Last week officials handed over documents from the power plant to the prosecutor general, the Financial Crimes Investigation Service and the Special Investigation Service in the hope that the culprits could be found and charged. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]behind schedule at least three years, officials say.

“There are projects that are late. Because of this there are quite a lot of delays in the payment of additional money. The number of additional money we will need won’t be a million or ten million – it will be hundreds of millions of litai or euros. These things we won’t find out until the very end,” Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said in a radio interview Thursday.

Kubilius is hoping that the EU will continue to support the country.

“I still hope that we will continue to receive European Union support for the closure of the Ignalina, because we have to remember that the nuclear power is closed purely because of our solidarity, because this has been agreed with the European Union…certainly for ourselves alone to realize such a project would be quite difficult,” Kubilius said.

Lithuania has received about €1.3 billion from the European Commission and still expects to receive another €1.2 billion. The plant closure deadline is 2030.

Last week officials handed over documents from the power plant to the prosecutor general, the Financial Crimes Investigation Service and the Special Investigation Service in the hope that the culprits could be found and charged. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]behind schedule at least three years, officials say.

“There are projects that are late. Because of this there are quite a lot of delays in the payment of additional money. The number of additional money we will need won’t be a million or ten million – it will be hundreds of millions of litai or euros. These things we won’t find out until the very end,” Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said in a radio interview Thursday.

Kubilius is hoping that the EU will continue to support the country.

“I still hope that we will continue to receive European Union support for the closure of the Ignalina, because we have to remember that the nuclear power is closed purely because of our solidarity, because this has been agreed with the European Union…certainly for ourselves alone to realize such a project would be quite difficult,” Kubilius said.

Lithuania has received about €1.3 billion from the European Commission and still expects to receive another €1.2 billion. The plant closure deadline is 2030.

Last week officials handed over documents from the power plant to the prosecutor general, the Financial Crimes Investigation Service and the Special Investigation Service in the hope that the culprits could be found and charged. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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