Short-lived low and intermediate-level radioactive waste treatment facilities
Cemented radioactive waste storage facility
Solid radioactive waste management and storage facilities
Short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste repository
Cemented radioactive waste storage facility
Status: in operation
The storage facility was put into operation in 2006 and it contains the cemented wastes – concentrate sediment, spent ion-exchange resins from Ignalina NPP water treatment and liquid waste treatment system, filter aid material (perlite).
Cemented radioactive waste storage facility is reinforced concrete structure. The possible storage term of waste packages inside the facility is 60 years. Cement-solidified waste is poured into 200 liter drums, which are placed into a storage container. In total, facility can contain up to 6,300 containers. The volume of one container is about 5.6 m3 and it holds 8 barrels. At the end of 2022, 19,758 packages (drums) containing cemented liquid waste were stored in this facility.
Also a part of Ignalina NPP decommisioning waste (solid radioactive waste) will be stored in this facility after safety assessment. Such assessment already was done for reactor channel graphite waste and agreed with VATESI in 2018. It will be placed in steel drums and put inside the same concrete containers as the cemented waste.
Retrieval of solid radioactive waste (buildings 155, 155/1, 157/1) and their pre-treatment facilities
Status: in industrial operation
Solid radioactive waste retrieval facilities (Project B2-1) are constructed near the old Ignalina NPP storage facilities (buildings 155, 155/1) as extensions of these buildings. These facilities will be used to retrieve short-lived radioactive waste from old storage facilities, re-sort and place it in special packaging.
Waste will be removed via remotely controlled equipment through openings in the walls of the old Ignalina NPP storage facilities and transferred to the constructed extensions of 155 and 155/1 buildings, where waste will be sorted, characterized and placed in containers. Most of this waste will be transported to a very low level radioactive waste storage facility and later disposed of in a very low level radioactive waste repository. Waste that does not meet the acceptance criteria for this repository will be transported to a newly built solid radioactive waste management and storage facilities, where it will be treated and stored until the repository for short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste is constructed.
One of the solid radioactive waste retrieval facilities (Project B2-2) installed on the roof of old Ignalina NPP storage facilities (buildings 157 and 157/1) are also designated for the retrieval of the short-lived waste from the building 157/1. Retrieved waste will be transferred to the newly built solid radioactive waste management and storage facility (Project B3/4), re-sorted, conditioned and placed to the short-lived radioactive waste storage facility. Later, this waste will be disposed of in repository for short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste.
In April 2019 VATESI issued a permit to SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant for commercial operation of solid radioactive waste removal and pre-treatment facilities (project B2 part 1).
In June 2020, VATESI approved updated safety justification documents of solid radioactive waste retrieval facilities (Project B2-2) installed on the Ignalina NPP solid radioactive waste storage facilities (buildings 157, 157/1) based on the results of hot trials. This decision of VATESI allowed the start of commercial operation of the facilities.
Solid radioactive waste management and storage facilities
Status: in industrial operation
Solid radioactive waste generated during Ignalina NPP operation and decommissioning is stored in the old Ignalina NPP storage facilities (buildings 155, 155/1 and 157, 157/1). In order to manage the accumulated waste in compliance with the latest requirements for the radioactive waste management and to modernize the waste management system, it was decided to build a new solid radioactive waste management and storage facilities.
The solid radioactive waste previously accumulated and stored in the old storage facilities will be retrieved, re-sorted, treated and placed into the new storage facilities. For this reason special retrieval facilities (projects B2-1 and B2-2) have been designed and installed.
In the new facility, low-level combustible waste will be incinerated and low-level and medium-level radioactive waste will be compressed to reduce volume of radioactive waste. This way treated waste will be placed in containers. Containers with short-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste will be filled with concrete to prepare radioactive waste packages for disposal in the short-lived low and intermediate level waste repository. Before disposal, these packages will be stored in a short-lived radioactive waste storage facility for approximately 50 years. Most of solid radioactive waste generated during the operation and decommissioning of the Ignalina NPP will be managed and stored in this facility.
In March 2022, Lithuanian State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) issued two permits to SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant for industrial operation of solid radioactive waste management and storage facilities.
Short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste repository
Status: preparatory works for the construction of the repository are ongoing
A near surface repository is a surface repository where natural and artificial (engineering) barriers prevent the spread of radionuclides into the environment. Such repositories need to be maintained for several hundred years (up to 300 years). Later, even after the degradation of engineering barriers, the waste no longer poses a risk.
All short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste currently stored in Ignalina NPP storage facilities and generated during decommissioning will be disposed in a near surface repository (project B25). Near Surface Repository will be built in the territory of Stabatiškė site in Visaginas municipality near other Ignalina NPP radioactive waste management facilities.
The packages transported from the other Ignalina NPP radioactive waste treatment facilities to the repository will be verified and accepted. Part of radioactive waste (containers with spent ion-exchange resins and large size components) will be conditioned and disposed in the repository. Radioactive waste packages will be placed in concrete vaults (full capacity of 100 000 m3), which after their filling will be covered by clay layer and multilayer cover of layers of silty sand, clay, gravel, rubble, boulders and vegetation. It is intended that the disposal of packages will continue till the end of decommissioning in 2038. Radiological monitoring of repository will be conducted during operational and post-closure periods as well other institutional control measures will be implemented during post-closure period.
VATESI issued a licence to SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant for construction and operation of repository for short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste (project B25) in November 2017. Preparatory works for the construction of the repository are ongoing.
Last updated: 08-04-2024