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The decommissioning of ageing nuclear installations will be an important challenge of the first decades of this new century. Belgatom, already an international player in this field, did participate, as member of a consortium led by NNC (UK), with SwedPower (Sweden) as a partner and STEAG (Germany) as a subcontractor, to the call for tender for the PMU (Project Management Unit) for the preparation of the decommissioning of the Ignalina NPP. The contract was awarded to our consortium on December 10th, 2001. The subject of this contract, amounting to €12.5 M, and won in a highly competitive context, is the preparation of the decommissioning of the first unit of the nuclear power plant equipped with two RBMK reactors.

The project will support the planning and engineering of the decommissioning process. In addition it will implement pre-decommissioning facilities to manage and store operational radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, the replacement facility for heat and steam supply and the upgrading of the plant technical archive.

Consortium personnel are already in post at Ignalina working on the project in an integrated team with Ignalina NPP personnel.

The project is co-financed by the National State Enterprise Ignalina NPP and the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF) that was set up in 2000. The IIDSF is managed by the EBRD. Contributors to the fund include the European Union and 13 European countries with more donor countries expected to join.

Ignalina NPP has the two largest RBMK reactors in the world (1500 MWe). They have benefited from a safety enhancement programme funded by the G7 countries through the Nuclear Safety Account that is administered by the EBRD. The decommissioning work, the preparation of which is starting now will last for the next decades.

For further information contact : Willy.Geets@tractebel.com

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