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Radioactive waste treatment centre for decommissioning of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
RWE NUKEM signs €120 million contract in Lithuania
The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and Germany’s RWE NUKEM GmbH have signed an
agreement for the construction of a turnkey treatment centre for solid
radioactive waste. The €120 million project will be financed by the Ignalina
International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF), which is administered by
the EBRD.
NUKEM has been commissioned to plan, build and install the required components
of the new waste treatment centre, including retrieval and sorting systems,
conditioning facilities such as cementation, compaction or incineration
plants, and storage facilities. The treatment centre is expected to start
operations in late 2009.
EBRD Vice President Fabrizio Saccomanni welcomed the agreement as an important
step to support the safe and timely implementation of the Ignalina
decommissioning process. Lithuania has committed itself to shut down Ignalina
by 2009, and has closed Unit 1 in December 2004.
The EBRD and Lithuania have developed a strong relationship in the
implementation of the decommissioning process. Other IIDSF grant-financed
projects include the construction of a new spent nuclear fuel storage facility
at Ignalina and the construction of flue gas desulphurisation facilities at
the 1800 MW multi-fuel Lithuanian Power Plant Elektrine which will become the
main electricity generator in Lithuania after Ignalina's closure. New
environmentally friendly replacement steam and heat boiler stations were
opened at the Ignalina site fuelled by a new 100 km gas pipeline.
The IIDSF was set up in 2001. To date Austria, Belgium, Denmark, EU, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have contributed more than €433
million. The EU’s contribution is part of a programme by the European
Community under which until 2006 almost €500 million will be provided to
assist with Ignalina’s closure and development of the Lithuanian energy sector.
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