Ignalina nuclear power plant
| Ignalina nuclear power plant | ||
|---|---|---|
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 55 ° 36 '16 " N , 26 ° 33' 46" E | |
| Country: |
 Lithuania
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| Data | ||
| Owner: | State of Lithuania | |
| Operator: | VĮ Ignalinos atominė elektrinė | |
| Project start: | 1974 | |
| Commercial operation: | May 1, 1984 | |
| Shutdown: | December 31, 2009 | |
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Decommissioned reactors (gross): |
2 (2720 MW) | |
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Construction discontinued (gross): |
1 (1500 MW) | |
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Planning set (gross): |
1 (1500 MW) | |
| Energy fed in in 2009: | 10,025.34 GWh | |
| Energy fed in since commissioning: | 241,578.16 GWh | |
| Website: | Ignalina nuclear power plant | |
| Was standing: | June 7, 2011 | |
| The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation . | ||
The decommissioned Ignalina nuclear power plant ( Lithuanian Ignalinos Atomine elektrinė shortly IAE ) at the lake Lake Drūkšiai near the town of Visaginas is located in Lithuania , a few kilometers from the border triangle to Latvia and Belarus and about 45 kilometers from the eponymous district town of Ignalina removed. The only Lithuanian nuclear power plant was in operation from the end of 1983 - when Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union - until December 31, 2009 (Unit 1 only until 2004). In 2000 there were 5,103 employees.
The total cost of dismantling in 2009 was estimated at around 2.3 billion euros.
construction
The order for the nuclear power plant was placed in 1974. It ran under the project name " Company PO Box A-15-13 ". The power plant was originally supposed to have four RBMK -1500 units. The nuclear power plant was built under the slogan " Lenin, the power of the party and the strength of the people ensure the victory of communism ". It was built by the Ministry of Medium-Heavy Engineering, which had more of a military background. Ignalina was supposed to demonstrate the technical progress of the USSR.
Construction of the first block began in 1977. A year later, the second block began. The first block went into operation on December 31, 1983 and went into commercial operation on May 1, 1984. When starting the first block in 1983 problems arose; nevertheless, the increase in performance was not interrupted. In the Soviet Union, it was an open secret that reactors started operating that weren't ready for it. There were strict instructions from the Politburo in Moscow to start up the reactor on December 31, 1983. The shift supervisors could have refused the commissioning, but this would have had consequences for them. In the meantime, the construction of Unit 3 began in 1985. On August 20, 1987, the second unit went into operation. The reactor went into commercial operation on the same day.
The power plant obtained its cooling water from the nearby Drūkšiai lake.
On August 30, 1988, the construction of the third block was canceled. The fourth block was also discarded. At the time of commissioning, the first two units were the most powerful reactors in the world. Ignalina was to become the showcase facility of the Soviet Union and demonstrate the rise of the Soviet Union into modern times.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Lithuania came into possession of the power plant. Since then, Lithuania has had the largest share of nuclear power of any country in the world. In 1993 this was still over 88%. In 1995, a long-term energy plan was drawn up in collaboration with Vattenfall and IVO , with which Ignalina was to be extended to 2005 or 2010. The extension of the term was a prerequisite for the continued technical retrofitting. Once the upgrade is complete, Lithuania's electrical power supply should be secured for 10 to 15 years.
business
safety
The first and second generation errors have been eliminated in the reactors. Ignalina operates second generation RBMK . Extra reactor protection was installed for the two reactors. In Ignalina, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, inspections were carried out for the first time in an Eastern European nuclear power plant according to Western standards. An inspection report with suggestions for improvement was drawn up from this and published in 1996. The recommendations of the report began to be implemented.
Unit 1 was the only Ignalina reactor that was commissioned with defects. The reactor equipment was lifted in through the roof with cranes. However, shortly before commissioning, the director at the time gave the instruction to close the roof. As a result, hundreds of parts were still outside the power plant when it was commissioned. Later 5000 soldiers were supposed to bring the equipment into the building and assemble it. During commissioning, most of the cables and pipes were only laid temporarily. At that time there were still no lifting devices for maintenance of various sections. Most of the rooms were not yet lit. The maintenance was carried out with flashlights. According to the director, Viktor Schewaldin, the safety of the power plant was not endangered. Despite these shortcomings, the commissioning protocol was signed on December 31, 1983. Medals and orders were awarded for the commissioning.
The list of defects was largely processed by May / June 1985 and the missing parts were installed. However, the work for which the roof should have been opened was omitted. The pipe system of the reactors is divided into 600 sections. There should normally be a crane in each section. However, a large number of these cranes were missing for maintenance. Since maintenance is not possible in this way, the condition of the pipes in Unit 1 was unknown.
The steam heater SPP-750, which is based on a French steam superheater, was developed for the Ignalina nuclear power plant. However, the superheaters cannot be properly maintained and cannot be replaced every two to three years due to the lack of lifting devices and inaccessible to the steam heaters. All 16 steam heaters in Ignalina, including those in Block 2, are affected. This prevents the steam from drying properly. As a result, the turbine rotor is damaged and does not run smoothly, which causes vibrations. This could also lead to a leak of hydrogen in the turbine hall and an oxyhydrogen gas explosion with a subsequent major fire. However, this technical solution with the steam heater was only designed for the RBMK Ignalina plant. According to Viktor Schewaldin, this should not have any impact on the safety of the power plant. Replacing all parts would have cost $ 100 million. This would also have meant that the power plant would have had to be shut down.
Geologists had warned of the location, as three tectonic fault lines run directly under the nuclear power plant . An accident should be prevented by earthquake sensors. When the sensors register earthquake waves, both reactors switch off automatically.
The Ignalina reactors are comparable to western reactors in terms of risk studies. However, this statement only applies to these RBMK systems. The risk of an accident, such as a leak, is, however, much higher than with western boiling water reactors .
Disruptions
In December 1983, when Ignalina-1 went online, a certain design flaw in the RBMK reactors was first discovered. When the graphite tips of the control rods were inserted into the reactor, they caused a sudden increase in power due to their neutron moderating effect and because they did not absorb neutrons like the displaced water. However, the control rods were able to reach the bottom of the reactor in time, so the boron in them slowed the nuclear reaction. It was only after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster , caused in part by a similar incident, that modifications were made that allowed the control rods to be retracted more quickly to prevent similar incidents. These changes were tested in Ignalina in 1987 and 1988.
On July 11, 1994, a defective mounted switch for extending and retracting the control rods was discovered. This happened when testing the switch. The switch was then replaced. The incident was classified as Level 1 ( Incident) on the international nuclear incident rating scale .
On November 15, 1994, Georgi Dekanidze, whose son Boris Dekanidze was sentenced to death, gave a speech on television. He threatened to blow up the nuclear power plant. Both reactors were shut down. The Prime Minister of Lithuania asked Swedish authorities to help locate the bomb on the power plant site. Research showed that there was no bomb. The reactors were then restarted. After this incident, a program to improve the monitoring of the nuclear power plant was drawn up. Among other things, new devices such as infrared binoculars were procured for the security personnel.
Shutdown
In the context of Lithuania's EU accession negotiations , the EU Commission requested the shutdown of the nuclear power plant for safety reasons. This shutdown was supported by the Lithuanian parliament in May 2000. In Protocol No. 4 on the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania of the Accession Treaty 2003, Lithuania undertook to shutdown in accordance with Article 1, “Unit 1 […] before 2005” and “Unit 2 […] by December 31, 2009 at the latest”. In a controversial decision, the Lithuanian government (then Kirkila's cabinet ) had a referendum held at the same time as the parliamentary elections in October 2008 , which aimed to keep Ignalina in operation until a new reactor was completed. However, the referendum, in which almost 89% voted in favor of continuing the power plant operation, was not valid due to the low participation of only 48% of those eligible to vote (required minimum participation 50%). The continuation would have meant a violation of the EU accession treaty.
On December 31, 2009, the second block was taken offline as planned. In the entire period since 2000, the EU has supported the cost of decommissioning with Litas 4.7 billion (EUR 1.36 billion). It was estimated that it would take 25–30 years to dismantle the power plant.
Two months after the shutdown of the nuclear power plant, around 2,000 residents of Visaginas complained in a demonstration that electricity and heating costs had almost tripled in January 2010.
Perspectives
Thermal power station in Elektrėnai
The Ignalina nuclear power plant generated around 80% of the electrical energy required in Lithuania in the last few years before decommissioning. A large part of the electricity production was then taken over by the oil and gas turbine cogeneration plant in Elektrėnai , which has been in operation for most of the time since the independence of Lithuania.
New building in Visaginas
Lithuania, together with Estonia , Latvia and Poland, planned to build a new nuclear power plant, called the Visaginas nuclear power plant , right next to the Ignalina nuclear power plant. In 2006, the Baltic states commissioned a feasibility study , which showed that the construction of a new nuclear power plant would cost between 2.5 and 4.0 billion euros and that the first reactor could go online in 2015. In February 2007 the Baltic countries and Poland decided to build this nuclear power plant. It should initially have a capacity of 3200 megawatts , which was divided into two 1600 megawatt reactors. The total cost should be around 6.7 billion euros. E.ON and Vattenfall showed interest in investing in such a power plant.
An environmental impact study commissioned by the state energy company Leo LT and completed in 2009 resulted in a positive assessment for the construction of a nuclear power plant with a capacity of up to 3400 MW at the intended location. The Lithuanian Ministry of the Environment approved the proposals for the construction of a new nuclear power plant in March 2009, but limited the amount of heat that could be discharged into Lake Drūkšiai to 3200 MW, which would bring the electrical output of the nuclear power plant to around 1700 without the construction of cooling towers MW would limit.
However, the planning continued from a total output of 3400 MW of the new nuclear power plant, with eleven possible reactor types being considered. In addition, the construction of a new high-voltage line from Lithuania to Poland was planned by 2015.
After parliamentary elections, in which the opposition parties critical of nuclear power won, and a referendum in October 2012, in which 64.8% of voters voted against the power plant, the plans are about to end.
Kaliningrad nuclear power plant
The nuclear power plant covered part of the electricity supply for Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast. After the shutdown, Russia wants to export electricity from the Smolensk nuclear power plant directly there. However, Lithuania has submitted an application to convert the electricity network to the frequency of the European interconnected network . As a result, the Kaliningrad exclave would no longer have a connection to the Russian power grid. The Kaliningrad nuclear power plant was to be built as a replacement , but the project will be put on hold for an indefinite period at the end of 2015.
Data of the reactor blocks
The Ignalina nuclear power plant was to have a total of four blocks . Two of the blocks were completed, with the first block being shut down at the end of 2004. The second block was shut down at the end of 2009. The output of the RBMK units was last per unit 1360 megawatts gross and 1185 megawatts net. Originally, the reactors had an output of 1,500 megawatts gross and 1,380 megawatts net. However, the thermal output was throttled in 1993 from 4800 MWth to 4200 MWth. Blocks three and four remained unfinished.
| Reactor block | Reactor type | net power |
gross power |
start of building | Network synchronization |
Commercialization of essential operation |
Shutdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ignalina-1 | RBMK-1500 | 1185 MW | 1360 MW | May 1, 1977 | December 31, 1983 | May 1, 1984 | December 31, 2004 |
| Ignalina-2 | RBMK-1500 | 1185 MW | 1360 MW | January 1, 1978 | August 20, 1987 | August 20, 1987 | December 31, 2009 |
| Ignalina-3 | RBMK-1500 | 1380 MW | 1500 MW | June 1, 1985 | - | - | Construction stopped on August 30, 1988 |
| Ignalina-4 | RBMK-1500 | - | 1500 MW | - | - | - | Planning discontinued |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Martin Czakainski et al. (Ed.): The reactor accident in Chernobyl: causes of accidents, consequences of accidents and their management, securing and disposal of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. 4th edition Berlin: Information Circle KernEnergie, 2007. ISBN 3-926956-48-8 , p. 6, Tab. 01 ( pdf ( memento of the original from April 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and still not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )
- ↑ Statistics ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Lithuanians say goodbye to the Ignalina nuclear power plant on New Year's Eve. RIA Novosti dated December 31, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i RUSSIAN ROULETTE - The Ignalina nuclear power plant. Film by: Jørgen Pedersen and Bente Milton. Broadcast: 1999 in the program "Prisma" of the North German Broadcasting Corporation
- ↑ a b c Table 31. Technology and Soviet Energy Availability - November 1981 - NTIS order # PB82-133455 (English; PDF; 5.8 MB)
- ↑ a b c d Power Reactor Information System of the IAEA : "Lithuania, Republic of: Nuclear Power Reactors" (English)
- ↑ a b c d Ignalina 3 nuclear power plant at the IAEA's PRIS ( Memento from June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b HANDBOOK ABOUT THE IGNALINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (English; PDF; 382 kB)
- ↑ a b c d Phasing out nuclear power in Eastern Europe? ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Ignalina Operating History at INSP (English)
- ↑ Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant - A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF IGNALINA NPP SAFETY ISSUES ( Memento of the original dated December 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ INSAG-7 - The Chernobyl Accident: Updating of INSAG-1. (PDF; 7.1 MB) International Atomic Energy Agency, 1992, pp. 23, 25, 125, 129 , accessed on May 31, 2019 (English).
- ↑ NTI - Lithuania: Ignalina NPP Developments 1989–1996 ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Act on the Conditions of Accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties establishing the European Union - Protocol No. 4 on Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania
- ↑ Euronews - 14/07/2008 - Lithuania Lithuania wants to prevent the closure of its nuclear power plant with a referendum
- ↑ Rosatom competes with Gazprom in Kaliningrad - "Kommersant" On: RIA Novosti , April 17, 2008
- ↑ In the post-Soviet area - Lithuania: Referendum on Ignalina nuclear power plant failed . RIA Novosti. October 13, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2008.
- ↑ a b Lithuanians say goodbye to the Ignalina nuclear power plant on New Year's Eve . RIA Novosti. December 31, 2008. Accessed January 1, 2010.
- ↑ Closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, message from BNS (Baltic News Service) on delfi.lt, January 1, 2010 (lit.)
- ^ Protests after the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant . ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Net tribune , February 28, 2010
- ↑ Lietuvos AER - Elektros energijos gamyba in litauischsprachigen Wikipedia
- ↑ a b c d e f Nuclear Power in Lithuania ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the World Nuclear Association (English)
- ↑ Lithuania votes against nuclear power . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , October 15, 2012. Accessed October 16, 2012.
- ↑ Energoatom Group OJSC - July 27, 2009 - Baltic NPP: After 2015 the Baltic region will face energy crisis - Sergey Boyarkin ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Nuclear power in Russia at the World Nuclear Association (English)
- ↑ Kaliningrad will not receive a nuclear power plant . Retrieved September 23, 2016.
