Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
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Decommissioned Reactors ( gross ):
Set construction ( gross ):
Set planning ( gross ):
The Ignalina nuclear power plant ( Lithuanian Ignalinos Atomine elektrinė, short IAE) is a decommissioned nuclear power plant in Lithuania at the lake Drūkšiai near the town of Visaginas, about 45 kilometers from the district town of Ignalina. The only Lithuanian nuclear power plant was from the end of 1983 (at that time Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union) to 2004 (Block 1) or until 31 December 2009.
The total cost for disassembly to be around 2.32 billion euros (as of 2009 ) is estimated.
- 4.1 CHP plant in Elektrėnai
- 4.2 New in Visaginas
- 4.3 Kaliningrad nuclear power plant
Construction
The contract for the nuclear power plant was granted in 1974. It ran under the project name "Company PO Box A-15 -13". The power plant should get four blocks of type RBMK -1500 originally. The nuclear power plant was built under the slogan " Lenin, the Party's power and the power of the people secure the victory of communism." It was built by the Ministry of means heavy engineering, the more likely has a military background. Ignalina should demonstrate the technical progress of the USSR.
The construction of the first block began in 1977. A year later they began the second block. The first unit started on 31 December 1983 on the operation and went into commercial operation on 1 May 1984. At start of the first block in 1983 already problems occurred; Nevertheless, the increase in performance has not been interrupted. In the Soviet Union it was an open secret that the operating reactors recordings that were not ready for it. There were strict orders from the Politburo in Moscow, to approach the reactor on 31 December 1983. The shift supervisor had commissioning can indeed refuse, but would have had consequences. Meanwhile, began in 1985 the construction of Block 3 On August 20, 1987, the second unit started its operation. The reactor took on the same day to the commercial operation.
The power station moved into its cooling water from the adjacent lake Drūkšiai.
On August 30, 1988, the construction of the third block was canceled. The fourth block was also discarded. During commissioning, the first two blocks were the most powerful reactors in the world. Ignalina should be the flagship facility of the Soviet Union and show the rise of the Soviet Union into the modern age.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated, Lithuania came into the possession of the power plant. Since then, Lithuania had the greatest proportion of all nuclear power countries worldwide. This amounted to over 88 % in the year 1993. In 1995 a long-term energy plan in cooperation with Vattenfall AB and IVO was created. This should extend the life of Ignalina by 2005 or 2010. This was the condition that the upgrade program will be continued. After completion of the upgrade of the power supply of Lithuania should be secured for 10 to 15 years.
Operation
Security
The error in the reactors of the first and second generation were removed. Ignalina RBMK has the second generation. For the two reactors an extra reactor protection was installed. In Ignalina first inspections were carried out in an Eastern European nuclear power plant to Western standards. From an inspection report with suggestions for improvement was written, which was published in 1996. They began to implement the report's recommendations. Block 1 was the only Ignalina reactor, which was taken with defects in operation.
The equipment of the reactor was hoisted by crane through the roof. The former director was, however, shortly before commissioning the instruction to close the roof. This amounted to commissioning, hundreds parts outside the power plant. Later 5000 soldiers should bring the equipment into the building and installation. During commissioning, cable and pipes were laid for the most part only provisionally. There were missing at that time still lifting equipment for maintenance of various sections. A large part of the space was not illuminated. Following the maintenance by with flashlights. According to the director, Viktor Schewaldin, the safety of the power plant was not endangered. Despite these shortcomings, the protocol for commissioning on 31 December 1983 was signed. For commissioning is awarded medals and decorations.
The list of defects has been performed for the most part until May / June 1985, the missing parts are mounted. However, the work has been omitted, for the roof would have to be opened. The pipe system of the reactors is divided into 600 sections. In each section would normally be a crane to be present. However, there is a large number of these cranes for maintenance. Since the maintenance are not as possible, the state of the tubes of the power block 1 was unknown.
For the Ignalina nuclear power plant, the steam heater SPP -750 were developed based on a French steam superheater. However, this can not be properly maintained and are not replaced every 2 to 3 years, because it lacks lifting equipment and the steam heaters are not accessible. All 16 steam heater in Ignalina, including that of block 2 are affected. This allows the steam can not be cured properly. This has the consequence that the turbine rotor carries damage it and not running around, causing vibration. This could also result in a leakage of hydrogen into the turbine hall and an oxyhydrogen explosion with subsequent major fire. This technical solution with the steam heater has been drafted for the Ignalina RBMK plant. According to Viktor Schewaldin this had no impact on the safety of the power plant. The replacement of all parts would cost $ 100 million. This would also have the consequence that the power plant have to be shut down.
Geologists had warned of the location, as it is directly run three tectonic fault lines under the nuclear power plant. An accident should be prevented by earthquake sensors. If the sensors register earthquake waves to automatically switch off both reactors.
The reactors at Ignalina are comparable with Western reactors in terms of risk studies. This statement applies only to this RBMK plants. The risk of an accident that, for example, a leakage occurs, however, is much higher than that of the western boiling water reactors.
Disorders
On 11 July 1994, a defective mounted switch for raising and lowering the control rods from the reactor was discovered. This happened during the test the switch. The switch has been replaced then. The incident was classified on the international rating scale for nuclear accidents at level 1 (failure ).
On 15 November 1994 George Dekanidze held, whose son Boris Dekanidze was sentenced to death, a speech on television. He threatened to blow up the nuclear power plant into the air. Both reactors were shut down. The Prime Minister of Lithuania asked Swedish authorities in the search for the bomb at the power plant site for help. Investigation showed that there was no bomb. The reactors were then raised again. After this incident, a program was designed to improve the monitoring of nuclear power plant. Among other new devices, such as infrared binoculars for the security personnel were procured.
Closure
As part of the EU accession negotiations of Lithuania, the EU Commission asked for security the decommissioning of the nuclear power plant. This closure was supported by the Lithuanian Parliament in May 2000. In Protocol No 4 on the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania of the Accession Treaty of 2003, Lithuania committed under Article 1, "Block 1 before 2005 " and "Block 2 at the latest on 31 December 2009 " to disable. In a controversial decision, the Lithuanian government was simultaneously performed with the parliamentary elections in October 2008, a referendum that had the continued operation of Ignalina until the completion of a new reactor to content. The referendum, in which almost 89 % spoke out for the continuation of the power plant operation, but gained due to the low turnout of only 48% of the electorate ( minimum holding of 50% ) shall not be valid. In any case, the continuation would involve a breach of the EU Accession Treaty and would possibly probably does not take place without EU approval.
The second block was December 31, 2009, as planned, removed from the network. Throughout the period since 2000 the EU has supported the costs of decommissioning 4.7 billion litas ( 1.36 billion euros ) for the dismantling of the power plant is estimated at 25-30 years.
Two months after the shutdown of the nuclear power plant about 2,000 residents from Visaginas complained in a demonstration about the social consequences of the closure. The electricity and heating costs were increased in January 2010 to nearly threefold.
The cost for the decommissioning of a reactor at Ignalina be according to the latest calculations probably 2.9 billion euros.
Perspectives
Cogeneration plant in Elektrėnai
The Ignalina nuclear power plant has generated in recent years, yet 80 % of the electrical energy used in Lithuania. Much of the current production is now about to take in Elektrėnai that has been made since the independence of Lithuania most of the time only in preservation mode, the power plant.
New in Visaginas
Lithuania planned together with Estonia, Latvia and Poland to build a new nuclear power plant, called the nuclear power plant in Visaginas, immediately adjacent to the Ignalina nuclear power plant. In 2006 a feasibility study was commissioned by the Baltic states, which revealed that the construction of a new nuclear power plant would cost between 2.5 and 4.0 billion euros, and that the first reactor could go on stream in 2015. In February 2007, the Baltic countries and Poland decided to build this nuclear power plant. It should initially have a capacity of 3,200 megawatts, which aufteilte on two 1,600 -megawatt reactors. The total cost should be about 6.7 billion euros. E.ON and Vattenfall have shown interest to invest in such a plant.
One of the state-owned energy company Leo LT commissioned in 2009 and completed environmental impact study gave a positive outlook for the construction of a nuclear power plant with a capacity of up to 3,400 MW at the intended location. The Lithuanian Ministry of Environment agreed in March 2009, the proposals for the construction of a new nuclear power plant to, but it limited the amount of heat that is likely to be discharged into the lake Drūkšiai, at 3,200 MW, the electrical output of the nuclear power plant without the construction of cooling towers at about 1,700 would limit MW.
The plans, however, went further by a total output of 3,400 MW of new nuclear power plant from where eleven possible reactor types were considered. In addition, in 2015 the construction of a new high -voltage line from Lithuania to Poland was planned.
After parliamentary elections, which won the nuclear- critical opposition parties, and a referendum, in which 64.8 % of the voters decided against the power plant, the plans are faced with disaster.
Kaliningrad nuclear power plant
The nuclear power plant covered a part of the power of the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast. After closure, Russia wants to export electricity from the Smolensk nuclear power plant there directly. However, Lithuania has made an application to convert the power supply at the frequency of the European grid. Thus the exclave of Kaliningrad would have no connection with the Russian electricity grid. To replace the nuclear power plant to be built Kaliningrad, which should be completed before 2015 but. However, the implementation of this project is also unclear.
Data of the reactor units
The Ignalina nuclear power plant should get a total of four blocks. Two of the blocks were completed, the first block has already been shut down in late 2004. The second block was shut down in late 2009. The performance of the RBMK - blocks per block is gross 1,360 MW and 1,185 MW net. Originally, the reactors had a capacity of 1,500 megawatts and 1,380 megawatts of gross net. However, the thermal performance in 1993 was reduced from 4,800 to 4,200 MWth MWth. The blocks three and four remained unfinished.