"We believe that the Visaginas nuclear power plant project promotes energy security in the Baltic region. Therefore, Hitachi and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy are sincerely working on the project. Lithuanian people's opinion, expressed in the referendum, means that discussion on the Visaginas project is going to continue," Terry Kubo, the head of communications at Hitachi, told BNS.
"Therefore, Hitachi is ready to provide the new parliament, the government and Lithuanian people with all necessary information about the project," he said.
Kubo said that Hitachi keeps to its commitment to contribute its technologies to enhancing Lithuania's energy security.
According to non-final data, almost 63 percent of those who cast their votes in Sunday's non-binding referendum said ‘no’ to the construction of the new nuclear facility, while 34.07 percent said 'yes.' Some 1.273 million out of 2.433 million eligible voters, or 52.34 percent, participated in the referendum.
President Dalia Grybauskaitė said on Monday that less than a third of Lithuania's eligible voters questioned the benefits of a new nuclear power plant.
Masaharu Hanyu, one of Hitachi's top executives, told reporters in Vilnius last month that the company would respect and abide by the results of the referendum.
It was feared that Hitachi would pull out of the Visaginas nuclear power plant project due to excess political risk after the Seimas voted in favor of calling the referendum.
The government chose the Japanese-US corporation Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy as the strategic investor in the planned new nuclear power facility in July 2011. The parties signed a preliminary concession agreement in April 2012 and expected to sign a final agreement by the end of this year.
The outgoing government has said that Lithuania will take final decisions on investments in the new nuclear power plant project by the end of 2015.
