An international consortium will design and construct a facility to transfer about 1300 partly-used fuel assemblies from Ignalina 1 to Ignalina 2. Both are RBMK-1500 units.
The consortium, comprising the Lithuanian Energy Institute (LEI) and two Russian enterprises, will develop a facility to enable partly-used fuel assemblies in unit 1 to be transferred for use in unit 2, following the closure of unit 1 by the end of 2004. Unit 2 is due to shut down by the end of 2009.
The consortium is now expected to carry out a safety evaluation "to assess the consequences of all possible events", while all equipment will be tested at the Ignalina site.
