Lithuania: the closure of Ignalina nuclear power plant brings urgent problems

by Leonas Tolvaišis, Donatas Stelmokas, Michele Tempera

The Republic of Lithuania must face the challenge of energy security, despite its clear dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports. Its main source of energy, independent from abroad, is nowadays the Ignalina nuclear site, situated in north-east of the tiny country. Its closure at the end of 2009, due to the oldness of the reactor on behalf of the European Union standards, is expected to endanger electric energy supplies in Lithuania. Some exit strategies have been proposed, but none of them seems to be effective in the short term. This problematic situation underlines the strong Lithuanian will to reduce the dependence on Russian energy imports and to be quickly linked tighter to the western portion of Europe.

Original title: Lituania: la chiusura della centrale nucleare di Ignalina innesca problematiche urgenti