On 22 November 2017, State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) issued a licence to Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) for construction and operation of repository for short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste (project B25).
Construction and operation license allows INPP to start a construction of repository under approved technical design and preliminary safety analysis report.
For the commissioning of the repository INPP should demonstrate technology compliance with the established requirements for the waste management and receive VATESI permits.
The packages transported from the other INPP radioactive waste treatment facilities to the repository will be verified and accepted. Part of radioactive waste (containers with spent ion-exchange resins and large size components) will be conditioned and disposed in the repository. Radioactive waste packages will be placed in concrete vaults, which after their filling will be covered by clay layer and multilayer cover of layers of silty sand, clay, gravel, rubble, boulders and vegetation. Radiological monitoring of repository will be conducted during operational and post-closure periods as well other institutional control measures will be implemented during post-closure period.
All radioactive waste accumulated at the INPP and placed to this repository shall be managed in safe manner and without any risk to people and environment.
VATESI received an application from Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) for construction and operation of repository in May, 2015.
About repository in short:
Repository for short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste will be composed from three groups of concrete vaults. Total repository capacity is 100 000 cubic meters of conditioned radioactive waste. Repository will be constructed in the site Stabatiškės in vicinity of the INPP. It is planned to transport and place radioactive waste there until 2038, when the INPP decommissioning activities will be finished and all radioactive waste will be treated and disposed. After closure of the repository, licence holder shall control and ensure, that all engineered barriers perform their functions.