A four-nation nuclear power plant project in Lithuania was thrown into doubt
Friday, as the government said a South Korean bidder has pulled out and another
was rejected.
Lithuanian Deputy Energy Minister Romas Svedas told
reporters that South Korea's state energy firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEP)
has withdrawn from the race.
Svedas said Lithuania is "surprised" by
KEPCO's move.
KEPCO made public Nov. 17 the fact that it was bidding to
build the plant, meant to replace a Soviet-era facility that was shut down at
the end of 2009 under the terms of Lithuania's admission to the European Union.
Lithuania tried and failed to convince the EU to let it keep the plant
open until the replacement, being built along with neighbors Latvia, Estonia and
Poland, was ready.
One other bidder was in the race, but the name was
never revealed. Svedas said the Lithuanian authorities decided that its bid
wasn't sufficient and turned it down.
The failure of the tender doesn't
mean the demise of the power plant plan, Svedas said.
"We will continue
with the development of the project," he said.
The former plant, near
Ignalina in northeast Lithuania, provided the bulk of the power for this former
Soviet-ruled republic of 3.3 million.
It was similar to the one that
exploded at Chernobyl in then-Soviet Ukraine in 1986, the world's worst nuclear
accident. Its closure was part of the deal allowing Lithuania to join the EU in
2004.