Reactors shut down as condition of EU membership
The recovery of fuel debris from spent fuel pools has been completed at the Ignalina nuclear power station in Lithuania, operator Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) said.
INPP said the fuel debris recovery is part of the programme of nuclear decommissioning at the two-unit facility. The work was supported by the main contractor, Germany-based Höfer & Bechtel.
The project had financial support from the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund administrated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Ignalina is the first and only Soviet-era RBMK-type power station to have performed the cleaning of the bottom of fuel storage pools. INPP said all spent nuclear fuel including nuclear fuel debris had been safely removed and stored in fuel storage casks.
The last of the spent fuel was removed from the reactors at Ignalina in April 2022.
The final cask was transferred to the interim spent fuel storage facility, bringing the total number of casks stored there to 190, loaded with 15,555 spent fuel assemblies from the Ignalina reactors and storage ponds.
Ignalina’s two RBMK units were shut down permanently in 2004 and 2009 in line with requirements for Lithuania’s membership of the EU.
