While the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP), decommissioned and in the process of closing since 2010, was looking for a site for a future deep storage facility for radioactive waste, attempts were made to sell its unused nuclear fuel to France and Russia, but both attempts ended in failure.
Patricia Ceiko, an advisor to the Nuclear Energy Policy Group of the Ministry of Energy, says that the plant offered to sell unused fuel for reprocessing to a French company, but it refused to buy it.
"We approached one of the most advanced companies, the French, that could handle this (reprocessing of nuclear fuel – BNS). The French clearly said 'no,' they refused to accept this fuel, as reprocessing nuclear power plant fuel is too expensive for them. The fuel is produced for each reactor according to a separate formula, and the response was that what was produced for the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is not suitable in composition for reprocessing this fuel in France," Ceiko said at a meeting of the Audit Committee of the Seimas on Wednesday.
The head of the INPP, Linas Baužys, later told BNS that if the French company had taken the fuel for reprocessing, France would have used it, but all radioactive waste remaining after reprocessing would have been returned to Lithuania.
According to Ceiko, negotiations were also held with Russia about the free transfer of unused fuel, but these negotiations ceased when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Later, Ceiko explained to BNS that initially they wanted to sell the unused fuel to Russia, but when it refused to buy it, negotiations were held for its free transfer.
"There were attempts to transfer (unused – BNS) fuel to Russia even for free, because it would have been beneficial for both us (...) and an agreement was reached. Transportation schemes for this unused nuclear fuel to Russian territory were being coordinated. We were negotiating with Latvia, as this cargo needed to be accompanied by armed escort. All of this was done with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but everything stopped because the war in Ukraine began," Ceiko said at the committee meeting.
The press secretary of the INPP, Jolita Majeykene, informed BNS that the plant has 2,400 tons of spent fuel and only 8 tons of unused fuel.
The head of the plant, Baužys, informed the commission that the company was tasked with finding a country to which the unused nuclear fuel could be sold, but this would require Russia's consent, from which it was purchased. According to him, if the fuel could be sold, it would not need to be placed in a deep storage facility.
The head of the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate, Mikhail Demchenko, claimed that reprocessing unused nuclear fuel is impractical, as its enrichment is too low.
