Related Pages
(Updated March 2010)
Lithuania has a population of about 3.5 million. In 2004, the last year of having two reactors online, the country produced 13.9 billion kWh out of a total 19.3 billion kWh. In 2007, electricity production was 14.0 billion kWh gross, 70% (9.8 billion kWh) from the only operating nuclear reactor, and 17% (2.4 billion kWh) from gas. Net exports were 1.4 billion kWh. Per capita electricity consumption in 2007 was about 3400 kWh.
Almost 90% of the country's gas comes from Russia. Following closure of its second nuclear power reactor at the end of 2009, much of Lithuania's electricity is imported.
Nuclear industry development
In the northeast of the countrya, Lithuania hosted the two largest Russian reactors of the RBMK type. These Ignalina reactors were originally 1500 MWe units (1380 MWe net), but were later de-rated to 1300 MWe (1185 MWe net)b. Construction started in 1978 and they came on line at the end of 1983 (unit 1) and in 1987 (unit 2)c, with a 30-year design life. Lithuania assumed ownership of them in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They are light-water, graphite-moderated types, similar to those at Chernobyl in the Ukrained. Construction on a third reactor at Ignalina commenced in 1985 but was suspended after the 1986 Chernobyl accident, and the unit was later demolished.
Originally the Iganlina plants were designed to provide power not only for Lithuania but also for neighbouring Latvia, Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 1989, 42% of the power was exported, but this fell through the 1990s.
In 1994, Lithuania agreed to accept funds – eventually 34.8 million ECU ($36.8 million) from the Nuclear Safety Account administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)e – to support a safety improvement program at Ignalina. The EBRD placed conditions on the grant, which evolved to include closing both units, at least by the time their pressure tubes needed replacing after some 15-20 years. Substantial upgrades were effected, with considerable help from other countries, notably Sweden.
Due to strong European Union (EU) concerns about the RBMK reactor, by the time Lithuania applied to join the EU it was required to close them both down. Hence unit 1 was closed in December 2004 and, despite strong public opposition to its enforced closure1, unit 2 was closed at the end of 2009, leaving Russia as the only country that has operating RBMK reactors. The EU has agreed to pay decommissioning costs and some compensation through to 2013.
The Ignalina plant was operated by Ignalinos Atominé Elektriné (IAE) and supplied power to national utility Lietuvos Energija at very low cost. Electricity prices increased dramatically following the closure of the plant at the end of 2009.f
Shutdown power reactors in Lithuania
In February 2007, the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) and Poland agreed to build a new nuclear plant at Ignalina, initially with 3200 MWe capacity (2 x 1600 MWe)g. Though located next to the Soviet-era Ignalina plant, the new one was to be called Visaginas after the nearby town of that name. The Visaginas Nuclear Energy (Visagino Atominė Elektrinė, VAE) company was established in August 2008 for the new units.
In April 2009, the Ministry of Environment approved the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report but imposed a 3200 MW limit on heat to be discharged into Lake Drukshyai, effectively capping the capacity able to use that at about 1700 MWe. Above this, cooling towers will be necessary. The EIA report considered a plant of at least two units of total capacity up to 3400 MWe, using one of the 11 reactor designs under considerationh.
In 2009, the government commissioned an international advisory consortium, led by the Rothschild investment bank, to prepare a business model and financing plan for the Visaginas project. This was presented in September 2009 and adopted by the government, following which, at the beginning of December 2009, Lithuania announced a call for investment in the project. The investor would get a majority stake (probably 51%) in the proposed new plant, alongside Lithuania's Lietuvos Energija, Latvia's Latvenergo, Estonia's Eesti Energia and Poland's Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE). Five potential partners were chosen to submit proposals in April 2010 and a shortlist of two is expected to be made by mid-2010. The strategic investor – as well as choice of technology and number of units – is expected to be finalized by the end of 2010. First power would then be in the 2018-2020 timeframe.
Meanwhile, a high-voltage (400 kV) 1000 MW interconnection, costing €250-300 million, to improve transmission capacity between Lithuania and Poland is to be built by 2015i. Much of the funding is from the European Union (EU). This follows inauguration of an interconnector between Estonia and Finland – Estlink, a 150 kV, 350 MW DC cable costing €110 million and also supported by EU funding. (The Baltic states and Belarus have good interconnection of grids from the Soviet era, but this did not extend to Poland.)
A further major transmission link, of 700 to 1000 MWe (probably 750 MWe) is proposed undersea between Sweden and Lithuania, to allow power from the new joint reactor to be exported to Scandinavia, as well as power to be imported.
The Radioactive Waste Management Agency (RATA) was established in 2001 by the Ministry of Economy for management and final disposal of all radioactive waste from the Ignalina plant. In 2007, it identified a site close to Ignalina for a near-surface final repository for low- and intermediate-level wastes and the government approved this. A group of companies led by France's Areva is developing the €10 million repository, to be completed in 2017. The repository contains a variety of facilities, the first of which should start operating in 2015. The waste storage area will be filled until approximately 2030 when the power plant is expected to be completely dismantled and all wastes secured.
Due to the pools at both reactors being essentially full, some used fuel is stored in dry casks on site. A new interim spent fuel storage facility is being built about one kilometre from the power plant, for operation from 2011.
Both Ignalina RBMK reactors are now being decommissioned. Unloading the used nuclear fuel from unit 2 is expected to continue until April 2012. By April 2016, it is expected that all fuel from unit 1 and unit 2 will have been unloaded from the used fuel storage pools into casks and transported to the new interim spent fuel storage facility, where it will remain for 50 years. For short-lived, low-level waste, a separate storage facility is planned to be operating by the end of 2010.
The total estimated cost of the Ignalina decommissioning project is over €2.5 billion, with the European Union (EU) having pledged €1.4 billion towards these costs. (Some €875 million had been received to the end of 2009.) EU funding for this work is largely through the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF) administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD). About 95% of the required decommissioning funds have been provided by the international community, and the spending is being administered by a Central Project Management Agency (CPMA) and the EBRD. The other 5% comes from Lithuanian state funds through the state's own energy agency.
A late 2009 survey (N=1000) carried out for Lithuania's State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) found that 73% of the population felt that it was possible to operate nuclear power plants in a safe manner12. This is slightly up on the 69% recorded in the European Union's 2006 Eurobarometer special survey. More than half of those polled agreed that storage and transportation of radioactive waste could be done safely, with 56% agreeing on storage and 59% on transportation.
In 1991, Lithuania's State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (Valstybinė atominės energetikos saugos inspekcija, VATESI) was set up to oversee Ignalina. This now operated under the Ministry for the Economy and reports directly to government under a new statute dating from mid-2002.
A technical support organisation, the Independent Safety Analysis Group (ISAG) was also set up by the government at the Lithuanian Energy Institute in Kaunas to give technical assistance to both VATESI and the plant.
The Radiation Protection Centre oversees radiation protection, including monitoring of public exposure. It drafts laws and regulations on radiation protection.
Lithuania has been party to the Vienna Convention on civil liability for nuclear damage since 1994. It became a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1993.
Lithuania came under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1992 and the Additional Protocol in came into force in 2000.
a. The Ignalina site is located near the town of Visaginas, 130 km from Vilnius, near the point where Lithuania's borders with Latvia and Belarus meet. The plant is beside a large lake, Lake Drukshyai, which was used for cooling. [Back]
b. The design capacity of the two Ignalina RBMK-1500 reactors is 4800 MWt (1500 MWe) each. Following safety concerns arising from the April 1986 accident at Chernobyl, it was decided to limit operation of the units to 4200 MWt, effectively derating them. [Back]
c. Construction of unit 2 commenced in 1980 and was completed in 1986. However, its startup was delayed until August 1987 due to the April 1986 accident at Chernobyl. [Back]
d. The Chernobyl reactors were RBMK-1000 units, which differ considerably from the RBMK-1500 units at Ignalina. The Ignalina units were fitted with an extensive accident localisation system (ALS), which is a series of pressure suppression compartments that mitigates the effects of rapid steam production (for example due to a pipe break). Following the Chernobyl accident, several safety upgrades were made to existing RBMK reactors – these are described in the information paper on RBMK Reactors. These modifications ensured that a runaway power excursion as happened at Chernobyl could not have occurred at the Ignalina units. [Back]
e. The Nuclear Safety Account was the first multilateral fund set up at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 1993 to finance nuclear safety projects in central and eastern Europe. See the page on nuclear safety funds on the EBRD website (www.ebrd.com). [Back]
f. In January 2010 – the month following the shutdown of Ignalina 2 – electricity prices increased by 33.3%. [Back]
g. In February 2006, the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed a communiqué towards building a new nuclear plant in Lithuania. Soon after, the heads of the three Baltic national energy providing companies – Lietuvos Energija AB, Eesti Energia and Latvenergo – signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 'Preparation for Construction of a New Nuclear Reactor in Lithuania' with the three parties participating and contributing to the project on equal terms2. A feasibility study launched by the MoU showed that a new nuclear plant costing €2.5-4.0 billion would be economically attractive and could be on line in 2015.
In July 2006, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas invited Poland to join in the project, despite Lithuania's Baltic partners being against Poland's involvement. In December 2006, the Baltic states agreed to discuss cooperation with Poland and, in March 2007, it was announced that Poland was to participate. The envisaged capacity of the proposed plant was increased to up to 3200 MWe, up from the 800-1600 MWe capacity originally planned. Lithuania said it would have a 34% stake, with each of the other three parties taking 22%, but a formal agreement could not be reached.
In the first half of 2008, the Lithuanian Electricity Organization (LEO LT), a national energy holding company, was established by the Lithuanian government to raise funds for the new nuclear plant. The Lithuanian government held 61.7% of LEO LT and NDX Energija 38.3%. The government's 96.4% holding in Lietuvos Energija along with its 71.34% stake in RST (Rytų skirstomieji tinklai, Eastern Power Grid Company) were transferred to LEO LT; and NDX Energija transferred its 97.1% stake in VST (Vakarų skirstomieji tinklai, Western Power Grid Company) to LEO LT. Much controversy surrounded the formation of LEO LT and the general election at the end of 2008 brought in a new government (under Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius) that was against the company. At the end of 2009, parliament voted to dissolve LEO LT.
In the meantime, in July 2008, LEO LT decided to name the new plant after the nearby town of Visaginas, although it would be built adjacent to the Ignalina RBMKs. The Visaginas Nuclear Energy (Visagino Atominė Elektrinė, VAE) joint venture company was established in August 2008 for the new units. LEO LT initially owned all the shares in the new company and intended to retain 51%, leaving Poland, Latvia and Estonia 16.3% each.
Following the dissolution of LEO LT, at the end of 2009, the Lithuanian government officially began searching for strategic investors in the project. Under this arrangement, the investor would get a majority stake (probably 51%) in the proposed new plant, alongside Lietuvos Energija, Latvenergo, Eesti Energia and Poland's Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE)3. The names of the possible investors have not been revealed, but it is understood that interest was shown by 25 companies, including EDF, Suez-GDF, E.ON, RWE, Enel, Iberdrola and Vattenfall. Five potential partners were selected to submit proposals in April and a shortlist of two is expected to be made by mid-2010. The strategic partner will be chosen at the end of 2010, as will the selected technology for the plant. Plans for one or two reactors are being considered. Lithuania expects an agreement to be signed by all parties by the beginning of 2011 at the latest.
There are many other factors affecting the project, not least of which is a shared desire of several countries in the region to not be too dependent on Russia for energy. A number of factors have heightened security of supply concerns in the region, including:
In addition, Russia is planning to build a nuclear plant in the the Neman district of the Kaliningrad exclave, close to the border with Lithuania. This project to build two VVER-1200 units is seen as a direct rival to the Ignalina replacement project4. A ceremony marking the start of construction of the Baltic Nuclear Power Plant was held in February 2010, but full construction has not yet begun. Russia expects to complete unit 1 by 2016 and unit 2 by 2018, if not sooner5. Russia invited Lithuania to participate in the project but the invitation was declined6.
Belarus is also planning to build a VVER-1200 nuclear plant, initially with two units7. In December 2008, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced that the station would be located in the Astravets district of the Hrodna region, near the Lithuanian border. Although the reactors are planned to start up in 2016 and 2018, no contracts have yet been finalized8.
Even Lithuania's partners in the Visaginas project have proposed building nuclear reactors in their own countries. Early in 2008, Estonia's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication announced that it would compile a shortlist of possible locations in Estonia for the country's first nuclear power plant9. And Poland's largest power group, Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) is planning to build two nuclear power plants with a capacity of about 3000 MWe each, with the first unit being commissioned by 202010. The northeren Zarnowiec site near the Baltic Sea coast, where construction of a 4-unit VVER-440 plant was aborted at the end of the 1980s, is seen as the most suitable location11. [Back]
h. The 11 reactor designs considered in the EIA report are: AP600 (Westinghouse-Toshiba, 600 MWe PWR); AP1000 (Westinghouse-Toshiba, 1000 MWe PWR); EC-6 (AECL, 700 MWe PHWR); ACR-1000 (AECL, 1085 MWe PHWR); V-392 (Atomstroyexport, 1006 MWe VVER); V-448 (Atomstroyexport, 1500 MWe VVER); SWR-1000 (Areva NP, 1254 MWe BWR); EPR (Areva NP, 1660 MWe PWR); ABWR (GE-Hitachi, 1300 MWe BWR); ESBWR (GE-Hitachi, 1535 MWe BWR); APWR (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, 1700 MWe PWR). A further design, the APR-1400, is reportedly under consideration. In February 2010, a senior Lithuanian delegation visited South Korea to discuss building a pair of APR-1400 reactors. These would probably be built and operated by Kepco as an independent power producer. The cost of each unit is about $5 billion, but some minor redesign to meet European Utility Requirements would be needed. [Back]
i. The planned 154 km double-circuit HVDC 400 kV overhead line, connecting Alytus in Lithuania and Elk in Poland, is coordinated by LitPol Link. Established in May 2008, LitPol Link is a 50:50 joint venture between transmission system operators Lietuvos energija AB and PSE (Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne) Operator SA. See LitPol Link website (www.litpol-link.com) [Back]
1. Lithuania votes on nuclear options, World Nuclear News (13 October 2008) [Back]
2. Baltic Energy Companies Start Implementation of Feasibility Study for Construction of New Nuclear Reactor, Lietuvos Energija press release (8 March 2006) [Back]
3. Investors sought for new Lithuanian plant, World Nuclear News (9 December 2009) [Back]
4. Kaliningrad plan for Baltic States market, World Nuclear News (17 April 2008) [Back]
5. Baltic nuclear plant brought forward, World Nuclear News (27 August 2008) [Back]
6. Lithuania rejects Russian nuclear plant proposal, The Baltic Times (12 February 2010) [Back]
7. Belarus and Russia agree to cooperation, World Nuclear News (29 May 2009) [Back]
8. The works on development of the legal and contractual base for the first Belarusian nuclear power project are carrying on, Atomstroyexport press release (10 August 2009) [Back]
9. Estonia considers constructing own nuclear power plant, World Nuclear News (6 March 2008) [Back]
10. New partner for potential Polish nuclear build, World Nuclear News (8 March 2010) [Back]
11. Poland's nuclear site study, World Nuclear News (16 March 2010) [Back]
12. Survey: 73 percent of Lithuanian residents believe that it is possible to operate nuclear power plants in a safe manner, VATESI news release (21 January 2010) [Back]
Country Nuclear Power Profiles: Lithuania, International Atomic Energy AgencyIgnalina Nuclear Power Plant website (www.iae.lt)Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant Project website (www.vae.lt)Energy supply options for Lithuania: A detailed multi-sector integrated energy demand, supply and environmental analysis, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA-TECDOC-1408, ISBN: 9201100043 (September 2004)The Source Book on Soviet-Designed Nuclear Power Plants, Nuclear Energy Institute