Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (HGNE) and Westinghouse Electric Company have both submitted proposals to become the strategic investor in Lithuania’s planned Visaginas nuclear power plant, according to the country’s energy ministry.
Lithuania’s minister of energy Arvydas Sekmokas said, 1 June, that the proposals will now be reviewed by the tender commission and with its Baltic States partners: Estonia, Latvia and Poland. A strategic investor, which will take a 51% stake in the Visaginas plant, will be selected during the summer of 2011.
Westinghouse confirmed that it had made a proposal, which offers AP1000 technology, but did not provide any further information. However, the company said in a statement that it: “sees Lithuania as an important market because it is a mature market with significant nuclear experience.” It also said that the Visaginas project “has a strategic significance across the whole Baltic Region.”
A spokesperson for GE confirmed the submittal of the proposal, but said that no specific details are being released at this time. GE said it “looks forward to the opportunity to work with the Republic of Lithuania.”
