On Friday Exelon Nuclear Partners announced a deal with the agency responsible for building a new nuclear plant in Lithuania.
Under the contract with Visagino Atomine Elektrine UAB, Exelon will consult on technical matters and help the state-run company draw up engineering, construction and fuel-supply contracts.
"ENP is pleased to be selected as advisor to VAE and its regional partners from Estonia, Latvia and Poland as they move forward to build their new nuclear power plant," ENP chief executive officer Amir Shahkarami said in a release. "Exelon's experience in developing nuclear programs will help VAE as it seeks to provide the Baltic region with safe, reliable and economic nuclear energy for generations to come."
The company did not report the value of the contract.
As recently as 2007, nuclear power from the country’s Ignalia plant provided 70 percent of Lithuania’s electricity, according to the World Nuclear Association. As a condition to its joining the European Union, the second graphite-moderated RMBK-1500 reactor at the site – and the last RMBK outside Russia – was shut down in 2009 with the EU paying decommissioning costs. To replace the generation and reduce the country’s dependence on Russian natural gas, Lithuania partnered with Estonia, Latvia and Poland to build a GE-Hitachi Advanced Boiling Water Reactor beside the decommissioned units.