Simson: Astravyets nuclear plant must adhere to highest safety standards
At Monday's meeting with her Lithuanian counterpart, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Kadri Simson said that nuclear power plants to be built in the neighborhood of the EU must adhere to the highest safety standards.
At their meeting, Lithuanian Minister of Energy Žygimantas Vaičiūnas thanked Estonia for its support regarding the matter fo the Astravyets nuclear power plant to be built in Belarus, where Lithuania's worry is safety and the unequal competitive edge for electricity imported from there, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications said.
Simson said that Estonia considers important that nuclear power plants that are built both in and within the neighborhood of the EU correspond to the highest safety standards and that the competitive conditions of third-country electricity producers are equalized.
Vaičiūnas and Simson's joint position was that the synchronization of the Baltic power grids with the Western European system should proceed rapidly and that national transmission systems operators like Elering and Latgrid play a major role in that.
It is important to reach initial agreements this year already in order to get support from the EU's next budget, the ministers said. According to Simson, she is glad that the European Commission strongly supports the synchronization plan and noted that the next step should be launching negotiations to agree on concrete deadlines.
The two ministers also discussed the plan to build a regional LNG terminal. Estonia's position is that the regional terminal should be market-based, economically cost-effective and able to compete in the long run. Lithuania has previously said that the LNG terminal in Klaipėda fulfills the needs of the whole region.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS