VATESI draft decision is submitted for public consultation

On 16 August 2024, State Nuclear Energy Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) has finalised the assessment of the application submitted by the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant for a licence to carry out decommissioning activities at the Ignalina NPP's power units and radioactive waste management facilities.

During the review, the documents supporting the safety of the decommissioning activities were evaluated, whether they comply with the nuclear safety, radiation safety and physical security requirements for these activities.

After obtaining this licence, the Ignalina NPP will continue dismantling contaminated equipment from Units 1 and 2, managing the waste generated during decommissioning, and demolishing the unnecessary buildings on site. It will also continue to manage the radioactive waste generated during operation. Solid radioactive waste will be removed from the storage facilities built at the beginning of the plant's operation, pre-treated and transferred to other radioactive waste management facilities. After the storage facilities have been emptied, their structures will be demolished and the retrieval and pre-treatment facilities will be dismantled. The liquid radioactive waste will be removed from the storage tanks and cemented. Again, once the storage tanks have been emptied, the storage tanks will be cleaned and the waste treatment facilities will also be dismantled.

According to the current legal framework, once the licence to carry out decommissioning activities has been issued by VATESI, specific decommissioning activities of Ignalina NPP power units can only be carried out after the safety of these activities has been evaluated in the decontamination and dismantling projects and their safety analysis reports.

The draft decision and related documents are available on the Government portal in the VATESI area under Public participation in decision-making.

Proposals should be submitted to VATESI until 16 October 2024 by e-mail info(at)vatesi.lt using a form from the above mentioned internet site. All proposals will be evaluated and announced together with VATESI final decision.

Decommissioning of a nuclear facilities

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is carrying out decommissioning activities at the Ignalina NPP, including the unloading of spent nuclear fuel from the power units in 2022 and its transfer to the spent nuclear fuel storage facility, the decontamination and dismantling of equipment, the demolition of unnecessary buildings, and the treatment and storage of radioactive waste.

According to the final decommissioning plan of Ignalina NPP approved by the Ministry of Energy, decommissioning of Ignalina NPP is scheduled to end in 2038. The final objective of the decommissioning activities is to clean up the Ignalina NPP site so that, after dismantling of equipment and demolition of buildings, the site will be free of radiological contamination and will be within the out-of-control radioactivity levels and the whole of the former site of the Ignalina NPP, with the exception of the parts of the site where nuclear facilities (storage and disposal facilities complying with the current safety requirements) will remain in operation, may be used for other activities without any restrictions.

VATESI received the application for a decommissioning licence in September 2018.

Information provided by VATESI