More than EUR 37 million worth of contracts signed

At the beginning of July this year, the INPP entered into a EUR 32.4 million contract with Westinghouse Electric Sweden (lead partner) and Westinghouse Electric Spain for the dismantling of the steam drum separators and related systems in both power units of the INPP. A EUR 5.5 million contract was also signed at the end of June this year with Jacobs Clean Energy for the technical supervision of this dismantling project.

The contract with a Swedish-Spanish consortium, based on a joint operating agreement, is planned to be implemented within six years. The contract was signed following an international tender process in which technical proposals were submitted by some of the world’s largest companies or consortia in the global nuclear energy market from Sweden, Spain, France, Finland, Germany and Slovakia.

Linas Baužys, Director General of the INPP, said: ‘This is one of the most challenging dismantling activities, not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of radiation safety. The dismantling of the INPP is moving to the next level, with advanced remote-control technologies and innovations being applied by international partners. This will not only allow the work to be carried out within the deadline, but will also allow compliance with permissible doses of personnel radiation exposure’.

At the end of June, following an international tender, a service contract was also signed with Jacobs Clean Energy, a Czech company, to perform the project’s FIDIC (Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs – Conseils) engineer services for the project. During the implementation of the contract, which will have a duration equivalent to that of the dismantling contract, the FIDIC engineer will review and provide conclusions and approvals on documents related to dismantling, radioactive waste management, radiation safety, robotics, and environmental and social impact assessment during dismantling.

According to Linas Baužys, the FIDIC service provider is one of the three key participants in the project apart the client and the contractor, who will be involved in the dismantling of the steam drum separators. The FIDIC engineer’s extensive experience both as a FIDIC engineer and while working in various similar nuclear power projects will be a contributory factor to the success of the project’s joint implementation.

The scope of the project includes the preparation of a technological project for the dismantling of the eight steam drum separators and associated systems (such as metal structures, piping and thermal protection), including a safety analysis, the design of the necessary equipment, dismantling, fragmentation and transport to the primary treatment sites. The work is planned to be carried out in the INPPs controlled area of radiation contamination, where specific requirements for radiation protection apply. (The project for the dismantling of the steam drum separators is linked to another major decommissioning project, the dismantling of the reactors of the nuclear power plant.)

Linas Baužys: ‘To ensure that this project was completed in the shortest possible time, it was decided to apply methods and techniques that have already been used and proven in the nuclear market. Therefore, it was decided to outsource part of the dismantling of the equipment to experts in the nuclear market with extensive experience in analogous nuclear facilities. In the meantime, the INPP staff will continue to carry out all waste treatment, deactivation and further management activities’.

The main function of the steam drum separators, with metal cylinders 2.9 m in diameter, 30.9 m long and weighing 300 t, was to separate the steam-water mixture coming from the INPP reactor into steam and water. The steam from the steam drum separators was fed to the turbines to produce heat energy, and the separated water was returned to the turbines for repeated circulation.

The project is financed by the International Ignalina Decommissioning Support Fund, administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERPB).

Today, one of the INPP’s main objectives is to implement the immediate dismantling of the decommissioned plant without leaving future generations with an unreasonable burden of radioactive waste management. The company’s mission is to create a clean environment by sustainably managing the legacy of nuclear activities. After the final decommissioning and dismantling of the INPP, it is planned to build and operate the deep geological repository up to 2079 and during this time, to establish the company as an advanced next-generation company and successfully develop its activities further.