A planned new nuclear reactor in Lithuania to serve all three Baltic states and Poland could be ready by 2018 Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said on June 11. “We expect that 2018, if work actually starts next year, is a probable date for completing the power plant,” Kubilius told the Lithuanian parliament. A business plan for the nuclear plant would be ready “by September or Oc­tober,” Kubilius said.  The Baltic stat­es’ sole nuclear power station near Ignalina in Lithuania, which provides power across the region, is due to shut down at the end of 2009. However, plans for the construction of a replacement reactor in partnership with Estonia, Latvia and Poland, have made painfully slow progress and speculation is increasing that one or more of the partners may pull out of the project. In May, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said the facility was unlikely to be ready until 2025. Back in March, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said a business plan would be ready by May and workers would be “digging the ground” by the autumn. Closing the Ignalina Soviet-era plant was part of the terms under which Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004. Regional leaders fear that once Ignalina closes, the region will become much more dependent on energy supplies from Russia.