News

State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) completed to review request of the State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant to approve the site safety evaluation report for planned upgrade of bituminous radioactive waste storage facility.

State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant plans to upgrade the bituminous radioactive waste storage facility currently operating in the territory of the Visaginas municipality into a short-lived low- and medium-activity radioactive waste disposal facility. Before starting the preparation of the project for the upgrading of this storage facility into a waste disposal, a safety analysis and justification of the disposal site must be carried out. The results of this analysis and justification should be presented in the disposal site assessment report, which will have to be reviewed by VATESI.

At this stage, VATESI reviewed the site safety evaluation report of the planned bituminous radioactive waste disposal site and prepared a draft decision.

Stakeholders are invited to review the draft decision and related documents on the VATESI internet site Public participation in decision making.

Proposals should be submitted to VATESI until 29 March 2023 by e-mail info(at)vatesi.lt using a form from the above mentioned internet site. All proposals will be evaluated and announced together with VATESI final decision.


The safety evaluation report of the bituminous radioactive waste disposal site is one of the documents on the basis of which a decision will be made regarding the possibility of upgrading the bituminous radioactive waste storage facility. VATESI specialists have reviewed and assessed whether the site evaluation carried out by State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant meets the safety requirements. The Lithuanian Geological Service under the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Health, and the Fire Protection and Rescue Department under the Ministry of the Interior also submitted their conclusions for the site evaluation report. The Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service under the Ministry of Environment and the Lithuanian transport safety administration not provided comments to the report.

State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in the next stages will prepare an environmental impact assessment report, a project for the reconstruction of this storage facility and safety justification documents for the disposal, which will be reviewed and evaluated by VATESI.

The planned upgrade of the bituminous radioactive waste storage facility involves strengthening the building structures of this facility, installing additional engineering barriers and covering the facility with waterproofing and protective soil layers of various dimensions, and implementing technical and organisational measures for institutional maintenance of the facility in accordance with established requirements.