Lithuania fails to sell unused nuclear fuel to France, Russia

Lithuania’s Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, fully shut down since 2010, attempted to sell its unused nuclear fuel to France and Russia while the country was searching for a site for a future deep geological repository.

Both attempts were unsuccessful, Caliber.Az reports, citing LRT.lt, the official news portal of Lithuania’s public broadcaster.

According to Patricija Ceiko, adviser on nuclear energy policy at the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy, the plant proposed that a French company reprocess the fuel, but France declined. She explained that Ignalina’s fuel is unsuitable for French facilities due to its unique composition and high processing costs.

Ignalina NPP director Linas Bauzys noted that if France had agreed, the reprocessed fuel would have been used by the French side, while the resulting radioactive waste would have been returned to Lithuania.

Talks with Russia on the free transfer of the fuel also took place, but they ended after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Ceiko added that transporting the fuel to Russia would have required an armed escort and Latvia’s involvement, but the process was halted by the war.

Ignalina NPP currently stores 2,400 tonnes of spent fuel and 8 tonnes of unused fuel. Baužys stressed that any sale would require Russia’s approval, and a successful transfer would relieve Lithuania of the need to place the material in a future deep repository.

Mikhail Demchenko, head of the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate, added that reprocessing unused fuel is economically impractical due to its low enrichment level.

Ignalina NPP, Lithuania’s only nuclear power plant, consisted of two Soviet-designed RBMK-1500 reactors, which were permanently shut down in 2004 and 2009 when Lithuania joined the EU.

After closure, all used fuel was moved into dry cask storage at an on-site interim facility, which can safely hold it for up to 50 years until a planned deep geological repository is built.

The decommissioning program is managed under an international fund run by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Lithuania opted for “immediate dismantling” rather than delaying it. 

By Jeyhun Aghazada