Posted on 12/30/2009 6:09:34 AM PST by Gorilla44
Lithuanians are braced for a devastating increase in energy prices when the struggling Baltic nation shuts down its main nuclear power station to comply with EU demands on New Years Eve.
Ignalina power station generates 70 per cent of Lithuania's power output and its closure will force the country to fall back on its old master Russia to meet its domestic demand.
Engineers are set to start shutting down the plant at 11 pm on December 31.
Brussels regards the facility as a Chernobyl-sized threat and made its de-commissioning a condition of the country joining the European Union in 2004.
But as a result domestic fuel bills are projected to jump by 30 per cent in 2010, a severe blow after the economy contracted by almost one-fifth in the last 12 months.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
What is facing the major population centers of the northern hemisphere is unlike anything that we have seen since the global warming debate got to the absurd level it is now, which essentially has been there is no doubt about all this. For cold of a variety not seen in over 25 years in a large scale is about to engulf the major energy consuming areas of the northern Hemisphere. The first 15 days of the opening of the New Year will be the coldest, population weighted, north of 30 north world wide in over 25 years in my opinion.
Why didn’t Lithuania tell the EU to beat it?
this will be terrible for so many people, especially as earth approaches global cooling in their region
maybe the people of eastern europe need some prayers and we need to determine this will NOT happen to us
All things considered, if the Lithuanians were operating a Chernobyl type power plant, it really ought to be shut down and dismantled, because that design really is extremely dangerous.
More than one truth here...
Damn straight.
I don't catch much TV but the other day I actually witnessed Weather Channel talking heads chatting about how "Climate Change" is all about extremes. Cold, Hot, Wet, Dry, etc. I was flabbergasted!
And who decided it was a “Chernobyl type power plant?”
“...if the Lithuanians were operating a Chernobyl type power plant, it really ought to be shut down and dismantled, because that design really is extremely dangerous.”
If that is the case, then this is a good thing. Chernobyl-like power plants have no containment building around the reactors. To make matters worse, instead of using water, these power plants use graphite as the moderator. Unlike water, graphite BURNS! These two design features make these type of plants very dangerous.
The EU should have helped them build a new modern western design instead of having them buy energy from Russia.
You’d think they’d wait until Summer to do this.
The "missing" part of the truth is that the EU is paying for the plant to be mothballed (or at least paying most of the cost). And it is a Chernobyl-type system. Good riddance.
The Soviets, before they built it.
Yes. What benefits of joining the EU could offset the costs of shutting down 70% of your power supply and being forced to buy from the Russians?
The totally absurd irony is that the nuclear power plant is putting out ZERO CO2! And they’ll probably be buying natural gas fired power from the Russians which puts out huge amounts of CO2.
This has to be the most insane thing I’ve heard in 2009. But there’s still one day left.
Whoops. Too fast on the keyboard. I didn’t read that it is a graphite moderated design. In that case, good decision.
If it wasn't so dang far away from Vilnius, my friends and I were jokingly talking about buying the control building and turning it into a nightclub.
You could save on refrigeration, just irradiate your food.
The article did NOT say the plant was a Chernobyl style plant. It said that the plant was considered, by the EU to be a Chernobyl style threat.
Sounds similar, but yet not.
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