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Poland plans first nuclear plant, LNG terminal as gas crisis bites
Warsaw (AFP) Jan 13, 2009 Poland said Tuesday its top priority was to ensure its energy security through broad diversification of sources, turning to nuclear power as a row between Russia and Ukraine halted gas supply to Europe. "By 2020 we intend to see power flow from one or two nuclear plants," Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw. Warsaw will consult South Korea and European nuclear powerhouse France on the nuclear project, a first for non-nuclear Poland. Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, currently relies on coal-fired plants for 94 percent of its electricity but has committed itself to easing its dependence on coal as part of the EU's climate package which limits greenhouse gas emissions. The construction of a LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal on Poland's Baltic Sea coast by the end of 2013 was also a priority, Tusk said. He cited Qatar as a potential supplier of LNG. Natural gas and oil reserves would also be increased, including vast new underground storage facilities. Poland would also focus on increasing its interconnections to existing western and southern natural gas pipelines, Tusk said. He endorsed the planned construction of the southern European Nabucco natural gas pipeline pumping supplies from Central Asia to Europe via Turkey, crucially bypassing Russia. Deliveries of Russian natural gas to Poland dropped to 84 percent of their contracted volume in the dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas pricing and payment. With a diversified supply base for natural gas, Poland has been relatively untouched by the crisis which has hit other central and southern European countries badly. It uses a total 14 billion cubic meters of gas annually, including 4.2 billion from domestic sources, one billion via Germany, 2.3 billion from Central Asia and 6.2 billion from Russian energy giant Gazprom. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Slovakia postpones nuclear reactor restart: PM
Bratislava (AFP) Jan 13, 2009The Slovak government has postponed its decision to reactivate a Soviet-era nuclear reactor that was recently shut down for security reasons, Prime Minister Robert Fico said Tuesday. |
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