MINSK, 18 April (BelTA) – Lithuania will have a number of problems in the course of shutting down the Ignalina nuclear power plant because decommissioning technologies were not implemented when the nuclear power plant was built. Pavel Yakovlev, editor-in-chief of the science and business website Atomic Energy 2.0, expressed the opinion in BelTA’s YouTube project V Teme [On Point].
Pavel Yakovlev said: “The world market of nuclear power plant decommissioning services is in its nascency right now. By the way, Belarus and Russia have signed an agreement in this field. And our joint competences will be realized in the project to build a geological underground repository in Belarus, a waste burial facility for the entire country. The site for the facility is being chosen now.”
The expert noted that decommissioning is part of the design of modern nuclear power plants. He pointed out that such technologies were not implemented in the course of construction of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. “Nuclear power plants were simply built and that’s it. It was important to generate electricity. People didn’t think much about what they will have to do with these facilities down the road. It is true for the Ignalina nuclear power plant to a large degree. Problems of high-power pressure-tube reactors [which are used at the Ignalina nuclear power plant] are being discussed now. For instance, safe recycling and storage of irradiated graphite,” Pavel Yakovlev said.
