Lithuania is undertaking a world-first engineering operation to fully dismantle the highly radioactive RBMK-type (Chernobyl-style) reactor cores at the closed Ignalina NPP (INPP). Since no nuclear plant of this specific design has ever been decommissioned before, the project has no historical analogue and requires entirely custom technologies.
The dismantling of the reactor channels of Ignalina unit 1 was completed in April, and nuclear regulator VATESI (Valstybinė Atominės Energetikos Saugos Inspekcija) then issued a permit to for dismantling and decontamination works on the upper and lower zone equipment of the reactor channels of unit 2.
INPP comprised two water-cooled graphite-moderated channel-type RBMK-1500 reactors. Unit 1 came online in 1983 and unit 2 in 1987. Originally, unit 2 was scheduled for launch in 1986, but this was postponed following the Chernobyl accident, after which both units were de-rated to 1360 MWe. Lithuania agreed to close the plant as part of its accession agreement to the European Union (EU), which argued that lack of containment made the units unsafe. Ignalina 1 closed in 2004 and Ignalina 2 – which accounted for 25% of Lithuania’s electricity generating capacity and supplied about 70% of Lithuania’s electrical demand – closed in 2009. The EU is largely funding its decommissioning.
The state-owned operator, recently rebranded as Altra, has safely processed approximately 45.7% of the total equipment on site. Plant workers have cut up massive amounts of non-hazardous machinery. Some areas currently resemble a scrap yard where metal is systematically sorted. The project aims to decontaminate 77% of the salvaged metal for commercial reuse. This includes purifying 1,400 tonnes of highly valuable copper to manufacture wind turbines.
Even though all used and fresh nuclear fuel was safely extracted and placed into dry storage casks by 2022, strict access controls remain. Workers and visitors must still wear heavy protective layers, double clothing, hats, and gloves to guard against surface contamination.
The operational landscape shifts dramatically as work approaches the active reactor cores. Because the extreme radiation levels make human presence fatal, advanced, remotely-operated robotic cutting systems are being designed to physically dismantle the core infrastructure. Due to the lack of pre-existing commercial technology for RBMK demolition, Lithuania has contracted elite engineering consortiums. Teams led by corporations such as Westinghouse Electric Spain and Electricite de France (EDF) are engineering the custom solutions.
The removal of massive, radioactive graphite components and the 6,000-tonne steam drum separators represent the highest-risk hurdles of the project. “This will be the most complicated task. But we will be the first in the world to have done it,” said plant director Linas Baužys. The physical dismantling of the primary reactor cores is slated for completion by the early 2040s, but managing the toxic material will take nearly a century. Radioactive debris and graphite waste will transition to temporary surface repositories built on-site.
“The dismantling process should be completed by 2049. The important thing is that we removed all fuel from the reactors and placed it into storage for 50 years. During that period, the state must build a deep geological repository where all used fuel will be permanently disposed of by 2090,” Baužys noted.
Lithuania plans to build a permanent, deep subterranean geological repository to store high-level nuclear waste for thousands of years. Geologists have evaluated 77 potential repository sites across 30 municipalities. The host region of Visaginas has already been ruled out due to unsuitable geological formations, leaving the final site selection to a committee of scientists rather than politicians. The country aims to have the final underground repository fully completed and sealed by 2090.
“Even in several hundred years, the repositories for radioactive components will probably look like mounds or small hills. The spent fuel storage facilities will remain as concrete structures, said Baužys. “We are also considering whether it is worth demolishing the main reactor buildings at all. It may make more sense to preserve them as a scientific testing ground or technology centre rather than spend €100m ($116m) on demolition.”
Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom has extensive experience managing and shutting down RBMK reactors and has launched an experimental RBMK decommissioning centre at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. However, Lithuania has rejected Russian assistance. Lithuania has fundamentally severed nuclear and industrial ties with Moscow and has explicitly moved to bar Russian and Belarus-linked firms from critical infrastructure due to national security concerns.
Allowing Russian engineers or technologies onto the Ignalina site is a political and security impossibility in the current climate, with Lithuania preferring to turn to Western companies with no RBMK decommissioning experience.
