Lithuania Safety Report Outlines Preparatory Work For New Unit
Written by NucNet
Monday, 24 August 2009
Preparatory work has begun for the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania, with the country’s nuclear safety authority saying the aim is to complete the plant by 2018.
In its annual report for 2008, Lithuania’s State Nuclear Power Inspectorate (VATESI) says it received an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for new nuclear units up to 3,400 megawatts in October 2008.
The annual report says the EIA included the assessment of two potential construction sites close to the existing Ignalina nuclear power plant. It also included an assessment of the technological alternatives for new nuclear build.
According to the annual report, Lithuania is planning to construct other nuclear facilities including a spent nuclear fuel storage facility, facilities for treatment and storage of solid radioactive waste, a very low-level radioactive waste repository, and a low- and intermediate radioactive waste repository.
In 2008, the country’s sole remaining operational unit Ignalina-2 was operated in “a safe and reliable manner” with no event higher than level 1 on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Nuclear Events Scale (INES), the report says.
Lithuania says it needs a new nuclear plant to replace generating capacity that will be lost when Ignalina-2, is shut down at the end of 2009. Ignalina-1 was shut down permanently on 31 December 2004 in accordance with the conditions of the country’s entry into the EU.
Ignalina-2, a 1,185-megawatt Soviet-era unit that began commercial operation in 1987, supplies electricity to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. Its closure is also linked to Lithuania’s EU membership.
The annual report can be downloaded in English from VATESI’s website.
