Lithuania received bids from Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. to build a nuclear power plant after shutting the Soviet-era Ignalina facility at the end of 2009.

The government will select the winning bidder this summer. Bloomberg reported. Plans are to replace Ignalina, which the European Union ordered closed because of its similar design to the Chernobyl reactor that exploded in 1986.

The Ignalina nuclear power plant contained two RBMK-1500 water-cooled graphite-moderated channel-type power reactors. The Soviet-designed RBMK-1500 reactor had a capacity of 1,500 MW. After the Chernobyl disaster the reactor was de-rated to 1,360 MW.

The Baltic nation plans to open a new plant in Visaginas in 2020. Westinghouse offered AP1000 reactor technology with a proposed capacity of 1,154 MW.
Lithuania previosuly said that the strategic investor could be offered as much as 51 percent of the new plant. The agreement would require parliament’s approval.

The tender for a strategic investor to build a nuclear plant failed in 2010 after Korea Electric Power Corp. withdrew its bid. Lithuania continued to look for an investor through direct negotiations.

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