Industrial operation of the damaged fuel handling system is starting

On the 6th of November, 2020, the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (hereinafter - VATESI) approved the report on the program for recognizing the damaged spent fuel handling system of SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (hereinafter - INPP) as operational and the final safety analysis report.

According to this program, „hot“ tests of the damaged fuel handling system were performed in the Unit 1 of INPP. Within the scope of these tests, the damaged fuel was placed in 3 containers and transported to the Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility (ISFSF, project B1). This way, the compliance of the damaged fuel handling system equipment with the design and nuclear safety requirements was confirmed. VATESI’s approval of the documents allows INPP to start industrial operation of the damaged fuel handling system. Damaged spent fuel is spent fuel assemblies that have been deformed or have shell defects (cracks, fissures, etc.) that have allowed direct contact of the fuel pellets with water.

Damaged fuel handling is a new, more technically complex, and time-consuming technological process. Works on damaged fuel at INPP Unit 1 started in September this year, when the first container with damaged fuel was placed in the ISFSF.

A total of 128 damaged fuel assemblies remain in Unit 1 and 189 in Unit 2. All damaged fuel will occupy 22 containers out of 190 stored in ISFSF and will be removed to storage by the end 2022.

Project B1 is financially supported by the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF) administrated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Donors' Assembly is managing the International Fund for the Decommissioning of the Ignalina NPP. Donor countries - European Commission, Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.