The commissioning of the Astrava nuclear power plant was evaluated: the decommissioning would be carried out according to the principle of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, it would be very expensive

On July 30, just over a week before the physical commissioning of the Astrava Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the licensing process was changed; Instead of a general license, permits will be issued for individual stages.

He also stressed that with the first nuclear fuel load, the Astrava nuclear power plant becomes a nuclear facility, the closure of which must be carried out in accordance with the current procedure, similar to the dismantling of the Ignalina nuclear power plant.

“It is as I understand that the general license is divided into partial licenses for individual shares. Here one might think that the whole process is not completely prepared, there is only a partial preparation for the first step: refueling. Because he will still have to apply (licenses – ELTA) for additional actions, ”V. Poderys told Eltai.

According to him, it can take 4 to 8 months from the physical start-up for the production of electricity for the Astrava nuclear power plant. According to current laws, as soon as the Astravo nuclear power plant comes into operation, Lithuania will have to prevent this electricity from entering our market. However, V. Poderys pointed out that without the agreement with the Baltic neighbors, not all the electricity cutoff objectives can be achieved.

“At this point, as I read the law, the power outage should begin with the first kilowatt-hour that enters the market. Insofar as the influence of Lithuanian institutions and companies is direct, I am convinced that we have everything we need and we are ready. Debates and controversies begin when it comes to the common market for electricity in the Baltic. There would be a more acute or stricter prevention if the three Baltic countries did not enter (electricity from the Astravo nuclear power plant – ELTA). Because we have to admit that, having a common market, only Lithuania itself participates in this prevention. Many goals would be achieved, but not all. A certain part of the electricity would reach the single market through other commercial doors ”, said the parliamentarian.

Meanwhile, speaking of civil protection, he feared that there would still be room for improvement in this area in the event of the Astrava nuclear power plant disaster.

“I felt that the preparations were not completed and now I hear from other institutions that there is room for improvement. In my opinion, what is important should be clear to the population: what to do if that and that happens. The authorities have plans, I am sure they know how to implement them, but at this point the question arises whether enough exercise has been done. It is one thing to write it down on paper, and another to do the exercises.

I understand that there is no cooperation between the municipality and the central government. The key question is whether residents know if they understand or know what to do with a particular signal. If you talk to people, they all think in their own way about swallowing an iodine pill abruptly here or going home. There is a danger that everyone will get into cars and smoke in the West. Managing the first steps at this point is very important. Experts say that in case of chaos or an uncontrollable situation, many people can die, there can be a lot of disorder and loss, ”said V. Poderys.

In his view, the issue of the Astrava nuclear power plant should continue to be raised internationally, but highlighted the current lack of involvement of Brussels in solving the problems.

“It is always necessary to do that (speak at the international level – ELTA), but there are other contexts. For example, the agreements between Brussels and Minsk are various, which could include the inclusion of our problems about Astrava as a condition. If you include Brussels “It is a great force. It is necessary to act through the international arena both at the regional level and through Brussels,” said the Seimas member, adding the importance of Poland’s support.

“Poland is a partner of regional importance, we have a gas connection with Europe and an electrical connection with Europe, the Via Baltica highway, Rail Baltica, not to mention the defense matters that we are planning together. It is very good that in conversations with other neighbors we can trust the attitude of the neighbor to the south. The poles also have an arrangement that they would not want to have electrons from the east. “We are not the only ones who want to give up energy dependence on the East and live another life,” he said.

For his part, V. Poderys considered that after the closure of its Ignalina nuclear power plant, Lithuania still has to import a large part of the electricity.

“It is a sad irony, because we have to admit that our reactors (Ignalina CN – ELTA) were practically of the Chernobyl type. That fear and attitude of the West was, in principle, that if these reactors could be closed, they should be closed as soon as possible. Only in the case of Lithuania is the sadness that we have suddenly become the largest importing country in the EU of a country that exports a lot and lives off exports, and so far we have followed.

The other side of the irony is that we have another reactor in the wall, of which we have reproaches regarding nuclear safety, and whose energy will also fill our networks. In this place, the participation of Brussels should be much more profound and empathetic, “said V. Poderys.

The chairman of the Commission for Energy and Sustainable Development believes that if Lithuania had its own nuclear power plant, the chances of building another one in Astrava would have diminished. However, he noted, this would cause problems in the implementation of the synchronization project and the disconnection of the eastern power grids, and the payback of the power plant itself would be questionable.

“I wouldn’t know if she (Astravo AE) would be completely abandoned then. However, even in our case, the question would arise that we should also be honest with ourselves. Would our project be commercially viable? I really doubt it. We see the old nuclear countries that are building, at the prices they offer, that we should have subsidized our nuclear energy by about 200 million euros. euros per year at least. When we developed nuclear power, we predicted that electricity prices would rise between 60 and 70 euros per MWh. The economic environment has been working on that. But with Sweden’s accession and the fall in the price of renewables, prices have come down. And the requirements for the safety of nuclear power plants and all the other technological costs have only made nuclear power more expensive, ”V. Poderys told Eltai.

“Another problem is timing. The big challenge we face is maintaining grid stability. It can be maintained with many small power generation facilities. If one is shut down, it doesn’t have much of an impact on the others as it can be replaced very quickly. If you have a huge installation, you have a lot of backup capacity, you have a lot to invest in network stability. This would really complicate synchronization, because the task that we are solving in the synchronization project is stability of the network ”, continued the parliamentarian.

At the same time, many unanswered questions remain about the economic viability of the Astrava nuclear power plant.

“In the long term, including all investments, interest, financing costs, nuclear power is not commercially viable. To sell it, it will have to be below cost. The reason such projects are not implemented by the country richer is probably a geopolitical component ”, commented the Seimas member.

The Belarusian state news agency BelTA announced on Friday that nuclear fuel has already been loaded into the reactor of the first unit of the Astrava nuclear power plant. According to V. Poderis, from this moment on, the closure of the nuclear power plant must be carried out in accordance with the rules governing the dismantling of nuclear power plants. Similar to the dismantling of the Ignalina CN.

“What is important to emphasize is that after refueling and starting a nuclear installation, the entire installation, a power plant that was previously just a building, becomes a nuclear installation with all the current rules and all the economic consequences because a nuclear facility cannot normally shut down or do something with it. Your work can be canceled in a similar way to us at Ignalina, disassembling, assembling all parts, equipment, keeping or storing it. “It is a huge and expensive activity, which costs more than half the cost of building a nuclear power plant,” said the deputy.

Electricity production at the Astrava nuclear power plant is scheduled to start this fall, Belarusian Energy Minister Viktoras Karankevičius announced, the Belarusian news agency BelTA reported.

“Today (Friday – ELTA) the loading of fuel in the nuclear reactor of the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has started, which is one of the stages of the commissioning of the nuclear power plant. A total of 163 nuclear fuel assemblies will be loaded. This is the full fuel load of the reactor. The first kilowatt-hours of electricity are planned to be produced this fall, “V. Karankevičius told reporters at a press conference.

According to the minister, the Belarusian energy system is ready to receive all the electricity produced by the Astrava nuclear power plant and transmit it to end users.

V. Karankevičius claimed that the Astrava nuclear power plant would supposedly create the conditions for Belarus to guarantee energy security.

Belarus is building a 2,400 megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant near the city of Astrava, just 50 km from Vilnius. The power plant will consist of two 1,200 megawatt power units.