The last cask of spent fuel was transported for temporary storage

On April 21, the last - 190th spent fuel cask was transported to the New Temporary Spent Fuel Storage Facility (Project B1). This is an important stage of the decommissioning of the INPP, which was launched in 2016 and successfully completed.

With the absence of nuclear (fissile) materials in reactor buildings, one of the most significant guidelines for the DECOMMISSIONING PROGRAMME of the INPP will be achieved. Once all the fuel has been removed from the units, the INPP will be able to obtain a VATESI decommissioning license and carry out complex decommissioning operations related to the dismantling of reactor systems. The terms of such a license are expected to reduce post-commissioning costs and make demolition and demolition work more efficient.

“The completion of such a significant and technically challenging project is an important event in the history of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and an expression of our core mission. We strive to become experts in the safe and efficient decommissioning of nuclear facilities and radioactive waste management. We have committed to safely implement an unprecedented project in the world – the decommissioning of the Nuclear Power Plant with two RBMK-type reactors.  We must pay tribute to future generations, and we are moving towards this goal. I would like to express my gratitude to all the project participants and INPP personnel, through whom we completed the work safely and on time,” said Director General Audrius Kamienas.

The design shelf life of containers is 50 years. In accordance with the provisions of the Radioactive Waste Management Development Program, spent nuclear fuel, together with other long-lived radioactive waste, is planned to be disposed in a deep repository at the end of the interim storage period.

CONSTOR®RBMK1500/ M2 containers are made of metal and concrete, height - 4.5 m, diameter 2.6 m, weight of one cask including fuel is 118 tons. The cask contains 91 fuel assemblies.

Over the entire period of operation of the Ignalina NPP, 21,571 fuel assemblies were used: 6,016 are stored in the old storage, 15,555 in the new storage.