Firms Join Together to Decommission Nuclear Reactor Plant

A deal for reactor dismantling services has been agreed between Lithuania based Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) and Graphitech. Graphitech is a joint venture which formed in 2020, comprising of the French firms EDF and Veolia.

The agreed period in which the venture will take place is four years, with one of the primary tasks being the decommissioning of two RBMK reactors from the Soviet period at INPP.

According to Graphitech, Ignalina is set to be the first graphite-moderated reactor plant to be decommissioned, meaning it is a crucial site for assessment. By the end of this decade, the entity expects to have the necessary equipment and technology to deconstruct a French nuclear power facility.

Myriam Colacicco, Head of Graphite Reactor Decommissioning, explained that their “consortium brings unique skills, including multi-criteria scenario analysis and costing as well as overall effective waste management. We look forward to supporting INPP in the development of the reactor core dismantling methodology.”

The finance available for the process comes from the European Unions’ Ignalina Program.

For the nations where graphite-moderated reactors are stationed, there are serious issues with the disassembly process. Studies on how to handle radioactive graphite once plants are shut down are ongoing in several nations, but there is currently no effective or conclusive answer.

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