European Union does not give a DAMN about Global warming

[Danno 1,228]

Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but here it is..... when you understand the "LEFT" it all makes sense (It was never about carbon foot prints or any such BS)

Lithuania set for energy rethink

Lithuania's president-elect says she will push to open up the Baltic state's energy sector, which is still linked to the Soviet-era power grid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8057526.stm

Dalia Grybauskaite achieved an election landslide on Sunday to become Lithuania's first female president.

"There is no internal market with electricity - it's very monopolised," Ms Grybauskaite told the BBC.

Asked about relations with Russia, she said she would "keep irritating rhetoric out of my language".

Ms Grybauskaite is poised to step down as the European Union's budget commissioner before taking up the presidency.

"Production and distribution of electricity are in the same hands - we need to do a lot of homework on that," she said in a BBC interview.

Lithuania gets more than 80% of its gas and most of its oil from Russia.

The country is also under pressure from the EU to close its Ignalina nuclear power station this year. The closure was a condition for Lithuania's EU accession in 2004.

Ms Grybauskaite's powers to steer the economy are limited, however, as the presidency is more focused on foreign policy.

But she pointed to her power to issue decrees, "which are obligatory to the government".

The size of her victory also gave her authority and "moral power" in Lithuania, she said.

Like its Baltic neighbours, Lithuania has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. Its economy is expected to contract by as much as 15% this year and in January frustration over the crisis escalated into rioting.

"I hope to be a stabiliser in this situation," said the president-elect, who will have the right to veto the budget if she so chooses.

[Pooky 3,844]

The country is also under pressure from the EU to close its Ignalina nuclear power station this year. The closure was a condition for Lithuania's EU accession in 2004.

You might want to find the reason for the EU's insistence in this case. If the reactor is of a similar type to the one that went South in Chernobyl, damn right I'd want it shut down.

Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund

Lithuania has one nuclear power plant with two units at Ignalina. Both units are Soviet-designed RBMK 1500 reactors and have been subject to thorough safety examinations by international experts, including one NSA -funded assessment project. According to the findings of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association, the main risk of accidents is associated with generic design flaws of the RBMK reactors and the absence of a confinement. This deficiency cannot technically be eliminated nor can the plant be brought up to a safety level comparable to that of western European reactors.

Closure commitments

As a result of the political dialogue leading up to EU enlargement, Lithuania agreed to the early closure of its RBMK 1500 reactors: it committed to close Ignalina 1 before 2005 and unit 2 by the end of 2008. Igualina 1 was closed in December 2004.

To assist Lithuania with the decommissioning process, the European Community together with ten European countries set up the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF) in 2001 at the EBRD.

Scope of the fund

The IIDSF became operational in the autumn of 2001 on the basis of a Framework Agreement of 5 April 2001, which was signed between the Republic of Lithuania and the EBRD by the approval of the Assembly of Contributors and ratified by the Lithuanian Parliament. More than EUR 334 million has been committed in controbutions from the European Community, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Grant financing is being allocated as follows:

* In support of the decommissioning works at units 1 and 2 through financing and co-financing the construction of facilities for storage and treatment of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste and other decommissioning related projects

* In assistance with the transformation of the energy sector through funding new measures which will improve the efficiency of energy supply and use in Lithuania after the closure of units 1 and 2

Decommissioning projects

A contract for the construction of an interim spent fuel storage facility was signed in 2004. The tender process for a solid radioactive management facility is ongoing.

IIDSF has also financed new boiler stations for the plant and the nearby town of Visaginas as a substitute source of steam and heat in place of Ignalina 1. The stations along with the rehabilitation and extension of district heat-and-steam pipeworks will be completed by Summer 2005 in parallel with a new gas pipeline to Visaginas and the Ignalina site.

In addition, the IIDSF has helped in the preparation of the final decommissioning plan and safety analysis report for Ignalina units 1 and 2, including an environmental impact assessment and documentation for the final shutdown and de-fuelling phase.

Energy sector projects

In 2002, the Lithuanian parliament adopted a National Energy Strategy for the reform of Lithuania's 'limited energy resources and their in-efficient use and conservation'. The strategy promotes the increase of energy efficiency through a reliable, secure and environmentally-friendly energy supply at minimum cost. The IIDSF energy support package has been developed in line with the same strategy to provide financial assistance for Lithuania's energy sector after the closure of the Ignalina power plant. It covers the cost of equipment, works and services leading up to the implementation of new energy conservation measures in areas of energy production and consumption. The objective is to increase the level of reliability and efficiency of energy use in Lithuania.

In 2003, IIDSF provided grant financing for the update of a least-cost plan for the Lithuanian power sector which attached highest priority to the energy efficiency status of the Lithuanian Thermal Power Plant (LTPP). As a result, the Fund's Assembly of Contributors agreed to co-finance the recommended improvements of the Plant with an IIDSF grant. The objective of the project is to upgrade the LTPP to an environmentally sound power-generating source which will continue to meet 65% of Lithuania’s power demand after the closure of Ignalina, in compliance with EU environmental regulations.

The project scope, time schedule and cost estimates, developed through Swedish assistance programmes, have already been agreed and, according to current planning, the IIDSF grant will be complemented by an EBRD loan, commercial loans from Lithuanian banks and the utilities own resources.

http://www.ebrd.com/country/sector/nuclear...funds/iidsf.htm

[Danno 1,228]

You might want to find the reason for the EU's insistence in this case. If the reactor is of a similar type to the one that went South in Chernobyl, damn right I'd want it shut down.

The reactor in CHernobyl didn't fail from it's design it failed through human error, they were running tests and shift B didn't know what shift A had done, next thing you know they had a Chemical explosion which blew the who top off the reactor.

If they had concern about this being an older model design, why not give them say 5 years to up-fit or replace it?

INstead that whole country will be burning evil oil!

[Danno 1,228]

Wilki says this in part.

<<<An emergency would not have occurred if the regulations [15] were followed. The operators of the power plant and the conductors of the experiment on the No. 4 reactor held too much faith in the reactor; to them, a catastrophe was simply inconceivable. Because of this, they had no qualms about disabling the safety features of the reactor and taking unnecessary risks to carry out the experiment.[16]>>>

[Pooky 3,844]

The reactor in CHernobyl didn't fail from it's design it failed through human error, they were running tests and shift B didn't know what shift A had done, next thing you know they had a Chemical explosion which blew the who top off the reactor.

If they had concern about this being an older model design, why not give them say 5 years to up-fit or replace it?

Instead that whole country will be burning evil oil!

Danno, read what I posted. Ignalina 1 was shut down in December 2004. Lithuania agreed to close Ignalina 2 by the end of 2008, a target they have already missed. And the Ignalina Decommissioning Fund was established in 2001 to support this process.

So there's 9 years, when you only asked for 5. Happy now?

Edited January 3, 2010 by Pooky

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Presumably when you understand "THE RIGHT" you will understand the need to risk a Chernobyl type event by keeping an aging Soviet era reactor in operation in order to save a few bucks and to piss off the GW folks.

Yes, I really should try to be more like you Danno. I just need to figure out how to undo those years of education. Perhaps a frontal lobe lobotomy would do the trick.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Wilki says this in part.

<<<An emergency would not have occurred if the regulations [15] were followed. The operators of the power plant and the conductors of the experiment on the No. 4 reactor held too much faith in the reactor; to them, a catastrophe was simply inconceivable. Because of this, they had no qualms about disabling the safety features of the reactor and taking unnecessary risks to carry out the experiment.[16]>>>

That may be true Danno, but the fact is that Cherynobl had no containment dome. The lack of a containment dome did not cause the accident but would have prevented the leakage that has so devastated parts of Ukraine.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but here it is..... when you understand the "LEFT" it all makes sense (It was never about carbon foot prints or any such BS)

Lithuania set for energy rethink

Lithuania's president-elect says she will push to open up the Baltic state's energy sector, which is still linked to the Soviet-era power grid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8057526.stm

Dalia Grybauskaite achieved an election landslide on Sunday to become Lithuania's first female president.

"There is no internal market with electricity - it's very monopolised," Ms Grybauskaite told the BBC.

Asked about relations with Russia, she said she would "keep irritating rhetoric out of my language".

Ms Grybauskaite is poised to step down as the European Union's budget commissioner before taking up the presidency.

"Production and distribution of electricity are in the same hands - we need to do a lot of homework on that," she said in a BBC interview.

Lithuania gets more than 80% of its gas and most of its oil from Russia.

The country is also under pressure from the EU to close its Ignalina nuclear power station this year. The closure was a condition for Lithuania's EU accession in 2004.

Ms Grybauskaite's powers to steer the economy are limited, however, as the presidency is more focused on foreign policy.

But she pointed to her power to issue decrees, "which are obligatory to the government".

The size of her victory also gave her authority and "moral power" in Lithuania, she said.

Like its Baltic neighbours, Lithuania has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. Its economy is expected to contract by as much as 15% this year and in January frustration over the crisis escalated into rioting.

"I hope to be a stabiliser in this situation," said the president-elect, who will have the right to veto the budget if she so chooses.

Danno, Danno... Danno... From your own article:

"Lithuania gets more than 80% of its gas and most of its oil from Russia."

Your logic is what makes no sense, not the "left's" Danno. Lithuania already gets most of its gas and oil from Russia... This plant is/was exceedingly dangerous, and as has been pointed out by Gene Hunt, a Chernobyl era plant, which needed to be shut down.

Danno please read this article, and try to comprehend articles you read before posting your misrepresentations and misinterpretations of them.

[Nagishkaw 510]

The EU scares me.

[almaty 19]

f##k the EU....Lithuania needs to what is best for their people

[Peikko 1,575]

Being scared of the EU is silly. Europe is much more politically and economically stable as a result the formation of the EU. Political and economic instability are dangerious.

As for Danno, his crusade to be 'right' about global warming having nothing to do with the activites of man is becoming obsessive, hence why he is clutching at such feeble straws.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Some of you ppl need to get your facts straight . Danno why do you even bother?

Without question, the accident at Chernobyl was the result of a fatal combination of ignorance and complacency. "As members of a select scientific panel convened immediately after the...accident," writes Bethe, "my colleagues and I established that the Chernobyl disaster tells us about the deficiencies of the Soviet political and administrative system rather than about problems with nuclear power."

The immediate cause of the Chernobyl accident was a mismanaged electrical-engineering experiment. Engineers with no knowledge of reactor physics were interested to see if they could draw electricity from the turbine generator of the Number 4 reactor unit to run water pumps during an emergency when the turbine was no longer being driven by the reactor but was still spinning inertially. The engineers needed the reactor to wind up the turbine; then they planned to idle it to 2.5 percent power. Unexpected electrical demand on the afternoon of April 29 delayed the experiment until eleven o'clock that night. When the experimenters finally started, they felt pressed to make up for lost time, so they reduced the reactor's power level too rapidly. That mistake caused a rapid buildup of neutron-absorbing fission by products in the reactor core, which poisoned the reaction. To compensate, the operators withdrew a majority of the reactor's control rods, but even with the rods withdrawn, they were unable to increase the power level to more than 30 megawatts, a low level of operation at which the reactor's instability potential is at its worst and that the Chernobyl plant's own safety rules forbade.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh.../chernobyl.html

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well that would be relevant if all nuclear power stations shared identical reactor designs.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Some of you ppl need to get your facts straight . Danno why do you even bother?

Without question, the accident at Chernobyl was the result of a fatal combination of ignorance and complacency. "As members of a select scientific panel convened immediately after the...accident," writes Bethe, "my colleagues and I established that the Chernobyl disaster tells us about the deficiencies of the Soviet political and administrative system rather than about problems with nuclear power."

The immediate cause of the Chernobyl accident was a mismanaged electrical-engineering experiment. Engineers with no knowledge of reactor physics were interested to see if they could draw electricity from the turbine generator of the Number 4 reactor unit to run water pumps during an emergency when the turbine was no longer being driven by the reactor but was still spinning inertially. The engineers needed the reactor to wind up the turbine; then they planned to idle it to 2.5 percent power. Unexpected electrical demand on the afternoon of April 29 delayed the experiment until eleven o'clock that night. When the experimenters finally started, they felt pressed to make up for lost time, so they reduced the reactor's power level too rapidly. That mistake caused a rapid buildup of neutron-absorbing fission by products in the reactor core, which poisoned the reaction. To compensate, the operators withdrew a majority of the reactor's control rods, but even with the rods withdrawn, they were unable to increase the power level to more than 30 megawatts, a low level of operation at which the reactor's instability potential is at its worst and that the Chernobyl plant's own safety rules forbade.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh.../chernobyl.html

Partially correct. Unfortunately bad design also played a role, thus the need to close the aforementioned Ingnalina 2 plant:

World Nuclear Organization, a combination of factors led to Chernobyl disaster, design flaws chief among them...

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Partially correct. Unfortunately bad design also played a role, thus the need to close the aforementioned Ingnalina 2 plant:

<a href="http://"http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html"" target="_blank">World Nuclear Organization, a combination of factors led to Chernobyl disaster, design flaws chief among them...

</a>

Shut it down,upgrade it and fire it back up! Problem solved.