VATESI issued a licence of decommissioning activities at the Ignalina NPP power units and older radioactive waste management facilities
On 17 October 2024, State Nuclear Energy Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) issued a licence to state enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant for decommissioning activities at the Ignalina NPP's power units and older radioactive waste management facilities.
VATESI specialists have reviewed and assessed documentation supporting the safety of the decommissioning activities and came to conclusion that it complies with the nuclear and radiation safety as well as physical security requirements for these activities. According to the current legal framework, once the licence to carry out decommissioning activities has been issued by VATESI, specific decommissioning activities of the Ignalina NPP power units can only be carried out after the safety of these activities has been substantiated in the decontamination and dismantling projects and their safety analysis reports.
Public were invited to review the draft decision and related documents and submit their proposals. No proposals were received from the public within the two months term of familiarization and submission of proposals established in the Law on Nuclear Safety.
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 waste treatment facilities will also be dismantled.