Lithuania’s Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) and Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) have agreed on the technical elements on a contract to construct containers for spent fuel. Director of INPP Viktoras Sevaldinas said the agreement will probably not be signed this year since the Lithuanian government has to complete some “protocal details” and to prepare a plan for the territory on which the containers will be built. Last year, AECL won the tender to build Ignalina’s nuclear waste containers. Some four concrete modules, each holding 14 metal receptacles for storing the fuel, are planned.
It is hoped that the site for storing the nuclear waste will be completed in early November. However, commissioning of the store was planned for August, and had to be postponed due to lack of funding. Spent fuel is currently stored in pools which will be filled within two years. The plans assume packing of fuel elements in casks and placing them for further dry storage on a site near the plant. The plant has so far received 20 casks, and some 50 more are on their way.
