Dmitry Selkin, executive director of Energocomplex OJSC

– Construction of Baltic NPP is essential for Kaliningrad region

The construction of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant is essential for Kaliningrad region. This project will help the region to solve a number of strategic problems. In the face of crisis, when many construction projects have been suspended, the state-sponsored construction of such a big facility will help local construction and other companies to avoid bankruptcy. The project will make Kaliningrad region an exporter of electricity. Lithuania, Poland and Estonia are also planning to build NPPs and the one who builds it the first will gain huge advantage in the field of energy export.

The construction of Baltic NPP will enhance the investment appeal of the region. Foreign investments will improve the living standard in the region: the local authorities will be able to increase wages, build new schools, kindergartens and houses. The infrastructure of the region will be improved.

Public hearings on the preliminary assessment of the environmental impact of the construction and operation of the 1st and 2nd units of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant took place in Neman, Kaliningrad region July 24 2009. The keynote speaker was the chief engineer of the Baltic NPP project of St.Petersburg Atomenergoproekt Ivan Grabelnikov.

Representatives of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Energoatom Concern OJSC, St.Petersburg Atomenergoproekt, the executive and legislative authorities of Kaliningrad region, public organizations and mass media as well as residents of Neman district and neighboring Chernyakhovsk and Krasnoznamensk districts and Sovetsky municipal district took part in the hearings.

To remind, Apr 16 2008 the Government of Kaliningrad region and Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation signed an agreement for the construction of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant in the territory of the region.

Baltic NPP will have two 1,170MW reactors. The estimated cost of the project is 194bln RUR in the prices of the first quarter of 2009.

The plant is supposed to employ 1,100 people. At the peak of construction the project will involve 8,000 people. Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is planning to recruit as many local specialists as possible. The railway in Neman district will be restored to ensure access to the construction site. Construction materials will be produced in the territorial of the region. The plant is expected to become the biggest tax-payer in the region.