Spent nuclear fuel and long-lived radioactive waste treatment facilities

Spent nuclear fuel storage facilities

Solid radioactive waste management and storage facilities

Retrieval of solid radioactive waste from buildings 157 and 157/1 and their pre-treatment facilities

Deep geological repository

Spent nuclear fuel storage facilities

Status: in operation

In Lithuania, spent nuclear fuel is not reprocessed, so after unloading it from the Ignalina NPP it is stored for several years in the cooling pools near the reactor and after it is transported in two storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel (SFSF-1 and SFSF-2) near the nuclear power plant. Both storage facilities are of the dry-type and the spent fuel is stored in the same containers in which it is transported to the storage facilities.

The first spent fuel storage facility (SFSF-1) was commissioned in 2000. It stores the spent fuel in two special types of containers for the storage of spent fuel from RBMK reactor: the CASTOR RBMK-1500 (CASTOR) and the CONSTOR RBMK-1500 (CONSTOR). The CASTOR containers are 4.3 m of height and 2,072 m in diameter, together with the spent fuel each container weighs 71.84 tons. The CONSTOR containers are 4.7 m high and 2.3 m in diameter, each container together with the spent fuel weighs 84.43 tons. This storage facility is fully stocked with a total of 20 CASTOR and 98 CONSTOR containers with 6018 spent fuel assemblies.

The second spent fuel storage facility (SFSF-2) was put into operation in 2017. Spent nuclear fuel in this facility is stored in a new type containers CONSTOR RBMK-1500/М2. Each of them is 4.5 m height and 2.6 m in diameter and 118 tons of weight. After interim storage period (up to 50 years) all spent fuel will have to be disposed of in a deep geological repository.

At the beginning of 2023, the Ignalina NPP has no nuclear fuel left in its power units, and all spent and unspent nuclear fuel has been transferred to SFSF-2. In total 190 containers containing spent nuclear fuel are stored in the storage facility (including 22 ones containing damaged fuel), plus one extra empty container for the reloading of spent fuel in the storage facility’s hot cell in case a spent fuel container is no longer leak-tight. There are also 8 special metal containers containing unspent nuclear fuel.

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 complex of solid radioactive waste treatment 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 built. The waste sorting and treatment facilities installed in the complex will perform functions of receiving, sorting, cutting, compaction, inceneration, packaging, grounting, characterization of the waste and transfer to radioactive waste storage facilities.

Solid radioactive waste accumulated during the operation and decommissioning process of the Ignalina NPP will be managed and stored in these facilities. The long-lived radioactive waste will be cut to fit into the storage containers and stored in a storage facility dedicated for this type of waste for about 50 years. The planed capacity of the long-lived radioactive waste storage facility is about 2000 m³ and it could be extended if necessary up to 8000 m³ by constructing additional modules.

Later, this waste will be disposed of in radioactive waste repositories.

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.

Retrieval of solid radioactive waste (buildings 157, 157/1) and their pre-treatment facilities

Status: in industrial operation

Solid radioactive waste retrieval facilities (Project B2-2) are installed on the roof of old Ignalina NPP storage facilities (buildings 157 and 157/1). Special equipment installed in retrieval facilities will remove long-lived radioactive waste from the old storage buildings. This waste transferred to the newly built solid radioactive waste management and storage facility (Project B3/4) will be re-sorted according to the latest requirements, put into special packages and containers and stored until the deep geological repository is constructed.

The hot trials of the retrieval facilities has started in October 2017.

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.

Deep geological repository

Status: planning stage

The deep repository, which is planned to be built and installed in Lithuania in 2068, is the final disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel and long-lived radioactive waste.

A deep repository is a special engineering facility built several hundred metres underground to contain radionuclides in radioactive waste and to isolate highly radioactive waste from external influences, thus protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of ionising radiation. The safety of people and the environment is ensured through containment and isolation by natural barriers (deep-seated rocks) and a number of complementary artificial (engineered) barriers.

Stages and the schedule of the implementation of deep geological disposal facility is established in the Nuclear facilities Decommisssioning and Radioactive Waste Management Development Programme, approved by the Government of Lithuania in 2021. The deep repository site investigation programme is expected to be completed in 2047. It is tentatively planned that the deep repository will be constructed in 2058–2067, operated in 2068–2074, and closed in 2075–2079.

SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is responsible for the implementation of the deep disposal facility project and, together with the Ministry of Energy, it coordinates the disposal facility installation works and periodically updates the schedule of planned works.