Ignalina closure behind schedule

Work to meet the 2009 deadline for the shutdown of the second reactor at Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant is behind schedule, warned Saulius Kutas, head of the State Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) this week.

The first reactor is due to be shut down by 2005 and the European Union agreed on June 11 to provide adequate long-term funding for the shutdown by 2009 of the second reactor.

Kutas expressed concern that installation of the second diverse shutdown system for the second reactor is lagging behind at a meeting of the executive group of VATESI and the Lithuanian consultative committee on nuclear safety.

Drafting of the final plant decommissioning plan is also delayed, as is drafting of the law on social guarantees for the plant's employees.

Maintenance of the first reactor after its closure is not yet fully resolved either, said Kutas.

Although preparations for the decommissioning of the first reactor are already underway and closure of the whole plant is under discussion attention should continue to be paid to nuclear safety, Kutas said.

The second reactor's second shutdown system, which stops the reactor if the first protection system fails due to an accident or breakdown, was supposed to be installed in 2000 in line with recommendations of foreign experts. The experts' six other recommendations have been implemented.

Under its agreement with the plant the U.S. company Data Systems and Solutions is not obliged to install the new system before 2004.

The project costs are estimated at over 34.5 million litas ($8.84 million) and a project implementation group will be formed by experts from the British company NNC.

Ignalina's two Chernobyl-style reactors are considered generally unsafe, although some 200 million euros ($188.68 million) have been invested in improving their safety over the past decade. The plant generates more than 75 percent of Lithuania's electricity.