Russia's nuclear chief said Wednesday that his agency would build a nuclear power plant in the nation's westernmost Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad, news reports said, according to AP. Sergei Kiriyenko said construction of the plant is the only way to ensure the «energy security» of the region sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. The enclave currently receives about 30 percent of its energy supplies from a Soviet-built nuclear plant in Lithuania that is set for closure next year, Russian news reports said. Kiriyenko said on a trip to Kaliningrad that foreign investors would be offered a stake in the project. «We are ready to offer foreign, primarily European companies, a 49-percent stake in the Kaliningrad nuclear power plant,» he was quoted as saying. He added that his Rosatom agency also expects European companies to supply up to half the equipment required for the plant. Russia has 31 reactors at 10 nuclear power plants, accounting for 16-17 percent of the country's electricity generation. President Vladimir Putin has called for increasing the proportion of nuclear-generated power to at least 25 percent by 2030.
