Decommissioning in Lithuania

Lithuania has no primary energy sources of its own. From the late 1980s, the Ignalina NPP (INPP) produced a large percentage of Lithuania's electricity. The Lithuanian electricity and gas networks are closely interrelated to the north-west power sectors of the Russian Federation. The plant, when originally constructed, was intended to supply the northwest region of the former Soviet Union rather than Lithuania alone. The first unit of INPP was commissioned in 1983 and the second unit in 1987. Since Lithuania became independent in 1990, INPP has typically contributed around 80% of national power supply. The plant is located in the north-eastern corner of Lithuania, close to the borders with Belarus and Latvia - 130 km from Vilnius, on the shore of lake Druksiai. Lithuania gained its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1990, and from then on took full responsibility for the safe operation of INPP. The plant, with two Soviet designed RBMK-1500 reactor units, is the only NPP of its type in the EU. The G7 high level meeting in Munich in 1992 was crucial to Lithuania and operation at INPP. The political decision was made that these RBMK reactors should be closed, as the reactors were judged incapable of being upgraded to Western safety levels. The first step in the preparations to close INPP was the International Donors Conference in the year 2000 in Vilnius. Shortly afterwards, the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF) operated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been established. The initial contributions to the fund were made by a number of European countries and by the EU. Since that time, only the EU has continued to contribute to the IIDSF, its contributions now totalling 389.5 million euros, equivalent to 93% of the fund