Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility (B1)

In cooperation with its long-standing partner, Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH (GNS), NUKEM Technologies completed construction of an interim storage facility for spent fuel at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The storage facility was handed over to the end user on 30 August 2016. The subtask for management of heavily damaged fuel will be completed in 2018.

Defueling of the INPP reactor units is a mandatory precondition for the plant decommissioning as the spent fuel must be moved to an external storage facility. The new state-of-the-art storage facilities are capable to accommodate around 18,000 fuel assemblies from two RBMK reactors of the Ignalina NPP. While GNS supplied the storage casks and necessary auxiliaries, NUKEM is responsible for loading of fuel assemblies into the casks, their transportation to the new storage facility as well as for the physical protection system. The contract also contains provisions for a hot cell for fuel inspection and equipment for mechanical handling and packaging of heavily damaged fuel. The project is funded by the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF) managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The IIDSF is financially supported by the European Community, specifically by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Norway and Switzerland.

The contact covers engineering design of the entire facility, preparation of the licensing package, support of the end user in securing construction and operational permits, construction of the building and its infrastructure, supply and installation of the process equipment as well as commissioning of the interim storage and engineered safety systems. NUKEM is responsible for the construction of the building, including its infrastructure, supply of the mechanical handling equipment, including the hot cell, and equipment for handling heavily damaged fuel.

Our partner, GNS, supplies the required quantity of CONSTOR® casks and associated equipment for cask handling inside the reactor building and in the newly constructed storage facility. The interim storage facility at the Ignalina NPP is the third joint storage project of NUKEM and GNS in Eastern Europe.