Main article: Economy of Lithuania
2024
Agreement with Westinghouse for dismantling of drum separators at two units of Ignalina NPP in 6 years
In August 2024, Ignalinskaya Nuclear Power Plant (IAES) entered into an agreement worth 32.4 million euros with Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB and Westinghouse Electric Spain, S.A.U for the dismantling of drum separators and related systems at both power units.
The agreement with the Swedish-Spanish consortium on the terms of a joint agreement is planned to be implemented within 6 years. The contract was signed as a result of an international tender, in which technical proposals were submitted by the largest companies or consortia in the world nuclear power market from Sweden, Spain, France, Finland, Germany and Slovakia.
"These are one of the most difficult dismantling works not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of radiation safety," said the head of the enterprise Linas Bauzis.
At the end of June, according to the results of an international tender, an agreement was signed with the Czech company Jacobs Clean Energy s.r.o. for the services of the FIDIC project engineer. During the execution of the contract, the term of which corresponds to the term of the dismantling contract, the FIDIC engineer will check and provide conclusions and approvals on documents related to dismantling, radioactive waste management, radiation safety, robotics, environmental and social impact assessment during dismantling.
According to L. Baujis, the service provider FIDIC is one of the three key participants in the project, in addition to the customer and the contractor who will dismantle the drum separators, and therefore the extensive experience of the FIDIC engineer both in performing the functions of the FIDIC engineer and in participating in a number of projects in the field of nuclear power will be one of the factors contributing to the success of the project.
The scope of the project includes the preparation of a process design for the dismantling of 8 drum separators and associated systems (steel structures, piping, thermal protection, etc.), including safety analysis, design of the necessary equipment, dismantling, fragmentation and transportation to the primary processing sites. The work is planned to be carried out in the area of controlled radiation pollution of the NPP, where special requirements for radiation protection apply.
The project for dismantling the drum-separators is connected with another major project for decommissioning - dismantling the reactors of nuclear power plants.
"In order for this project to be completed as soon as possible, it was decided to apply methods and technologies that have already been used and proven themselves in the nuclear market, so it was decided to transfer part of the work on dismantling equipment to specialists in the nuclear market who have extensive experience in working at similar nuclear facilities. At the same time, IAES employees will continue to carry out all work on recycling, decontamination and further waste management, "notes L. Bauzhis.
The main function of the steam drums-separators, which are metal cylinders with a diameter of 2.9 m, a length of 30.9 m and a weight of 300 tons, was to separate the steam-water mixture coming from the NNPP reactor into steam and water. Steam from the steam drums-separators was supplied to the turbines for the production of thermal energy, and the separated water was returned to the turbines for multiple circulation.
The project is funded by the Ignalina NPP International Decommissioning Support Fund, which is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
After the final operation and dismantling of the station, it is planned to build and operate a deep burial ground until 2079.
Rosatom's German daughter dismantles Ignalinsky NPP
The dismantling of the Ignalinsky NPP is carried out by the German company NUKEM, which is wholly owned by Atomstroyexport, and this is the engineering division of the state corporation Rosatom.
The process is monitored by the IAEA, where representatives of different states and companies gain experience in decommissioning and handling radioactive waste as part of the commissions.
Dismantling of NNPP is complicated by the fact that RBMK reactors are much larger than VVER/PWR in terms of the volume of equipment, including those contaminated with radionuclides. RBMK is a channel reactor, each fuel assembly (FA) is located in its own cell-pipe, each of them has its own water supply, its own isolation valves. And cells for FA or control rods - more than 1800. And all this works according to a single-circuit scheme, so the entire turbine and all heat exchange equipment are contaminated with radionuclides. It is very difficult to clean and dismantle.
The procedure for dismantling RBMK reactors at INPP is the first such experience, and it is accompanied by development work. Even conventional cutting of pipes with radioactive deposits requires preliminary experiments to understand how to safely do this.
The development of the RBMK dismantling technology is very relevant for Russia, since RBMK reactors in the Russian Federation are already beginning to be sequentially decommissioned and replaced with VVER-1200/1300 water reactors. At this time, units No. 1 and 2 of the Leningrad NPP and units No. 1 and 2 of the Kursk NPP are decommissioned. Lithuanian experience will allow them to be dismantled faster, cheaper and safer.
2023: Lithuania and Poland discuss land power line instead of Harmony Link sea cable
In November 2023, Lithuania and Poland are discussing a ground power line instead of the Harmony Link sea cable. It is believed that such an alternative will allow the project to be completed earlier than 2030, and its implementation will cost less.
Earlier, the plan was frozen: system operators of both republics decided to cancel the announced tenders for the construction of an underwater cable due to high prices.
The commissioning of Harmony Link would allow Lithuania to import and export electricity within a single European energy market. The connection with a capacity of 700 MW and a length of about 330 km was supposed to connect the Darbenai substation in the Lithuanian district of Kretinga with the Polish substation Zharnovets.
Back in May 2023, the Poles calculated the approximate cost: the total investment, taking into account the proposals submitted at that time, amounted to about 1.6 billion euros. This significantly exceeded the planned budget of 680 million euros.
The main question is also that the alternative in the form of a ground-based power line requires a political agreement between Vilnius and Warsaw and the approval of the European Commission.
State contributions to pay for energy by citizens and companies reached 5% of GDP
2022
Record decline in gas consumption due to the rise in its price
Total gas consumption for all YeS-27 countries in the first eleven months of 2022 decreased by 11% compared to the level of 2019-2021. The leaders in the decline in gas demand are Finland (minus 53% in January-November) and the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), which reduced consumption by 27-30%, and by November reached a demand compression of half of the average level 2019-2021.
Share of solar and wind power - 36.9%
Rise in electricity prices due to pressure on Russia
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2020: Average energy consumption per capita
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2006: The closure of the Ingall NPP is a condition for Lithuania's admission to the EU. Failure of the project for the construction of a new nuclear power plant
One of the conditions for Lithuania to join the EU was the closure by 2009 of the only nuclear power plant in the Baltic countries - the Ingall nuclear power plant.
Since it is not so easy to close the nuclear power plant supplying the region with cheap electricity, the simultaneous construction of a new nuclear power plant using Western technologies was announced. Replacement units were going to be built near the Ignalinsky NPP, that is, the entire energy infrastructure is in place, radiation control is also, and Lake Drysvyaty is nearby as a water source. Everything is fine, only Lithuania was very expensive to simultaneously dismantle the existing nuclear power plant (about 3 billion euros) and build a new one. In attempts to resolve this issue, the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia even issued a joint communiqué, expressed their approval of plans to build a new nuclear power plant in the region and called on national energy companies to invest in this project.
Financing problems have not been solved, moreover, new ones have arisen at the project selection stage. Two reactor options were considered: the water-water AP1000 from Westinghouse and the improved boiling water-water reactor ABWR at 1315 MW from General Electric and Hitachi. We were inclined to the latter, since there was already a reference unit - that is, the first NPP unit under this project. If they say that the project is reference, this means that at least once a full procedure has been completed from design to construction and licensing and commissioning. In such a project, all inconsistencies are corrected, a list of suppliers is defined, all of them are familiar with their part of the project, and the production of all components is established. But even if the issue of the reactor was resolved, there were issues of turbine, fuel, radioactive waste, removal/disposal of spent nuclear fuel - that is, all the problems of the absence of a single contractor supplying everything necessary for a turnkey nuclear power plant. Attempts to reduce different parts of the project in "manual mode" were not successful.
So the project remained only a project, and no replacement for the Ignalinsky NPP in reality arose. While discussions were underway, the dismantling of the existing station began. A nuclear power plant is needed for developed industry, but the EU does not provide for any industrial development for the Baltic countries, so the construction of nuclear power plants in the region is simply inappropriate, Rybar wrote.
1983: The launch of the first unit of the Ingall NPP is the only one in the Baltic republics
Preparatory work on the construction of the Ignalinsky NPP began in 1974, the construction of the first unit in 1978, in 1980 they began to build the second, and in December 1983 the first power unit was already launched. The second was going to be launched in 1986, but due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the work was postponed to 1987.
Two RBMK-1500 water graphite nuclear reactors were installed at the NNPP. The RBMK-1500 reactors were an attempt to produce one and a half times the power at the same size and fuel load as the RBMK-1000 reactor. The main difficulties were in ensuring the technological resource of fuel and providing heat removal. And if in terms of fuel it was possible to maintain acceptable parameters, then an error came out with heat removal. They tried to improve the removal of heat from fuel by increasing the turbulence of the coolant flow, for this special swirlers were installed. But the calculations of thermohydraulics turned out to be overly optimistic, at a capacity of 1,500 MW, cases of depressurization of fuel elements became more frequent - their shell cracked. After the power unit's capacity was reduced to 1,300 MW, the problem was resolved.
The main limitation of RBMK operation time is the state of graphite masonry of the reactor core. Under irradiation with gamma-quantum and neutrons, all materials "swell": preserving mass, they increase in volume, cavities appear inside. The material, which has been under radiation for a long time, eventually turns into a "sponge." Each material has its own resistance to irradiation, but graphite does not belong to highly resistant to swelling materials. As the graphite masonry is used, it swells and the process channels laid through it are curved. In the end, the curvature of the channels becomes such that the operation of the reactor can no longer be safe.
The situation can be corrected if the graphite masonry is repaired: a zirconium pipe is pulled out of the channel, after which cuts are made in the graphite blocks, which reduces the volume of graphite blocks. After the saws collapse and straighten (the cable is passed through the channel, it is tightened and the propylene blocks are equal to them), the channels return to their normal shape, zirconium pipes are re-inserted into them, and reactor operation can be continued. The masonry repair procedure has already been tested, and each RMBC reactor passes through it.
However, such repairs cannot be carried out once and calm down on this: as the masonry ages, it will have to be cut more and more often. Therefore, it was decided to limit the working life of the RBMK to 45 years, and upon reaching this period, the unit is decommissioned. Until that time, the reactor on the unit will necessarily undergo the procedure for repairing graphite masonry once. By the time of its shutdown, two reactors of the Ignalinsky NPP had worked for 20 and 22 years, so they did not work out their resource.
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