The executives of Vėtrūna and INP have neither confirmed nor denied this information officially to BNS.
Meanwhile, sources said that Vėtrūna suspended works at the site on Thursday as the amounts payable to Vėtrūna by Nukem were approximately six months overdue and the parties failed to agree on payments.
„It seemed that Nukem and Vėtrūna would soon finalize the talks successfully but eventually the works were stopped, which was much unexpected for everyone. Vėtrūna’s workers are no longer working at the site from today,” sources told BNS.
Sources said that the number of workers at the site was being reduced gradually from January when the talks were opened. Approximately 50 workers worked at the construction site in May.
Vėtrūna CEO, Rolandas Baškys, told BNS that he could neither confirm nor deny the reports that the company had decided to ‘freeze’ its works at the INP.
“We cannot either confirm or deny that. We do not comment on our relations with the customers,” Baškys told BNS.
INP CEO, Žilvinas Jurkšus, told BNS that he had not been informed about the suspension of works by Vėtrūna at the INP on Thursday.
“I have not been informed officially, it’s probably because I am not in Lithuania now,” Jurkšus said.
INP spokeswoman Daiva Rimašauskaitė told BNS that Nukem should notify the INP management in writing that one of its subcontractors had terminated cooperation but no written notice had been received as yet.
BNS asked Nukem officially to provide comments about its cooperation with Vėtrūna almost a fortnight ago. However, the company’s representatives have not answered those questions so far.
Nukem Technologies and Vėtrūna signed a contract early in August 2010. Vėtrūna was hired to build a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. It was also engaged in the construction of facilities for the solid radioactive waste storage complex.
The INP says on its website that the project of spent nuclear fuel storage facility, which was initially valued at 590 million litas (EUR 171 m), runs 44 months behind the schedule. Meanwhile, the 428 million litas worth project of solid radioactive waste storage complex runs 53 months late.
