New reactor to be built in Lithuania

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VILNIUS, Lithuania, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A new reactor will be built at Lithuania's aging Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

The reactor was commissioned to help regulate high-voltage transmission networks, even as the plant will be closed by the European Union in 2009, the Daily News Bulletin reported.

"The INPP is working; apart from power production, our reactors also produce the so-called jet power that affects tension in networks, and after the INPP shutdown the question of regulating tension in high-voltage networks will be very important," INPP General Director Gennady Negrivoda told the Daily News Bulletin.

The $14 million reactor will be funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with the money for the INPP shutdown.

Recently an extension of the plant has been sought to keep it running until sometime between 2015 and 2017. By then Lithuania will likely have a new plant built, as it is working on a plant with Latvia, Estonia and Poland.