OPINION:
As the great-grandson of Lithuanian immigrants (and having visited Lithuania several times to see friends and cousins), I am quite concerned about the cost overruns, stringent European Union regulations and tactical inexperience that are hindering efforts to dismantle the Soviet-era nuclear power plant in Visaginas (“Lithuanians near old nuclear plant fear for their lives,” Web, Sunday).
Of course, the European Union isn’t helping itself or Lithuania with all the red tape, but after Chernobyl and Fukushima, it’s hard to blame them. To that end, one source of funding Brussels could consider is Russia, which built reactors all across Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
Unfortunately, some bargaining chips were lost when Russia entered the World Trade Organization, but if a European Union-Russia free trade agreement were ever on the table, Eurocrats should demand the Kremlin contribute to a cleanup fund that would help finance the decommissioning of Soviet-era power plants. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin might decide later to turn off the gas to Europe, maybe member states will have met EU renewable energy goals by then.
JOSH KRISINGER
Burke, Va.
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