Decommissioning Can Begin at Ignalina Nuclear Plant

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Decommissioning at Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant can start following the issuing of a key licence for an interim radioactive waste storage facility.

The plant is powered by two RBMK-1500 reactors, the same Russian-made reactors used at Chernobyl in Ukraine, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986. Ignalina stopped producing power in 2009 but there have been significant delays related to the decommissioning of the plant. The two reactors were shut down as part of Lithuania's accession to the European Union (EU).

The permit from the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (Vatesi) allows "hot trials" of 10 new storage casks which will store some of the 16,000 used fuel rods from the reactors. Around 190 casks will be needed to store them all, and each filled cask will weigh in at 118 tonnes. It marks the first time that the Constor RBMK1500/M2 casks have been used and the interim facility will be "tested to demonstrate that all design and safety requirements are fully met", the Inspectorate stated.

Industrial Info reported earlier this year that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had called on Lithuania to review risks associated with the shuttered Ignalina nuclear power plant. For additional information, see April 15, 2016, article--IAEA Advises Lithuania on Ignalina Nuclear Decommissioning.

The news was welcomed by the director general of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP), Darius Janulevičius: "We are very proud to have achieved this important milestone in the world-wide first decommissioning of RBMK-1500 reactors. This was achieved as a result of the great efforts and close cooperation of all the project parties. We are particularly grateful to the European Commission and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) which, through their support, have enabled us to overcome project challenges and to achieve this excellent result."

Vince Novak, EBRD Director for Nuclear Safety, added: "Mr Janulevicius and his team brought the B1 project back on track, and progress has been outstanding since 2013. We take great satisfaction from this outcome and from the experience of working with this Ignalina team, their contractors, the Ministry of Energy and our EC colleagues."

The International Ignalina Decommissioning Support Fund was set up in 2001 and is funded by the European Commission as well as other European countries. To date, it has collected more than 750 million euro ($840 million) although the EC's Court of Auditors recently warned that the fund is too small and work to decommission the remaining RBMK-1500 reactors located in Europe is going too slow. There are eight reactors located in sites in three countries--Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia--but the report found that funding gaps and the lack of adequate storage solutions means that it will take decades to carry out necessary decommissioning works.

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