According to news reports, Lithuania has picked Hitachi Ltd. together with Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. over Westinghouse Electric Corporation to continue talks on building a new nuclear power plant by 2020, the Energy Ministry said on Thursday.
Hitachi offered its ABWR reactor technology with a proposed capacity of 1,300 megawatts in output at the projected plant in Visaginas, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of the capital.
Hitachi has not disclosed the value of the possible order for the project.
The government has said in the past that the strategic investor could be offered as much as a 51 percent stake in the new plant. Any agreement would require parliament’s approval.
Deputy Energy Minister Romas Svedas told a news conference that the government hoped to sign a final contract by the end of this year and for the plant to be online by 2020.