The Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team, which on 2 December concluded a 17-day follow-up mission to Lithuania, said the authorities showed a strong commitment to nuclear and radiation safety and have taken steps to address recommendations and suggestions identified in during an mission in 2016.
Integration of IAEA safety standards into the legal framework on radiation protection has been improved and the framework amended to increase public involvement in regulatory decision-making, the IAEA team said.
The team said arrangements needed for regulating the future management of Lithuania’s radioactive waste and its eventual disposal will be addressed by the energy ministry in a revised national radioactive waste management programme. An IAEA Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation (Artemis) mission will take place in June 2021 to review radioactive waste management in Lithuania in more detail.
In October the Ignalina nuclear station signed an agreement to cooperate with national nuclear power safety inspectorate Vatesi and the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority on a project to improve the safety of radioactive waste management at the shutdown two-unit station. The €3.5m project will include the development of a concept for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in Lithuania, and improvements to radwaste management and decommissioning processes.
In the four decades that the IAEA has carried out nuclear and radiation safety peer review missions, this was the first to be organised completely online, due to restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lithuania’s Ignalina nuclear power station has two reactor units that were permanently shut down in 2004 and 2009 and are undergoing decommissioning. Spent fuel storage and radioactive waste management facilities are being constructed and are in operation in the country.
In addition, radioactive sources are used in medicine, research and industry.
Lithuania agreed to close the two Soviet-era Ignalina units as part of its accession agreement to the European Union. They began commercial operation in 1985 and 1987.
