2019 is a record year for visiting INPP

Interest in excursions at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) has grown significantly since May this year after the premiere of the HBO series Chernobyl has gone out. One of the main shooting locations of the series was INPP that has attracted the attention of tourists.

In total, almost 5 thousand people (4884) visited INPP (in control zone and informational center) this year. 474 tours were organized, where many visitors were from Lithuania and other foreign countries. To compare with the year 2018, there were only 240 excursions organized at INPP with over 2 thousand visitors (2349).

During excursions at the INPP controlled zone, visitors have a unique opportunity to visit the reactor hall, the turbine hall which has been already dismantled and the control room. Tours are organized for interested individuals and legal entities. Those, who are interested in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, in its history, the principle of work on decommissioning, financing, regulating the decommissioning process, as well as radioactive waste management, radiation safety requirements, and so on. Since 1995, the year when the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant Information Center were open,  about 100 thousand people took part in excursions from over the world already.

Excursion organization is an effective way to present the main purpose of INPP to the general public: to implement a unique project - to decommission the nuclear power plant with RBMK type reactors and to manage radioactive waste safely. The INPP dismantling project has no analogues, and Lithuania is the first country in the world that, after unloading spent nuclear fuel, is preparing to dismantle RBMK reactors and related systems. Public support and information on ongoing and planned work are an important part of this process.