Energy, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant

In September, the INPP issued a tender, worth a preliminary 468,000 euros, on social and economic evaluation for the selection of a potential region for DGR.

The study will be financed under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism Program.

A 12-month contract with the winning bidder is expected to be signed in the first quarter of 2021.

The INPP representatives told BNS that the contractor would provide conclusions on the most suitable DGR sites and further actions, including studies, assessments, examinations and works, and would also assess the social and economic aspects of building the DGR at particular sites, such as the unemployment level, the approach towards radioactive waste, density of population, etc.

The DGR would store spent nuclear fuel and other long-lived radioactive waste. The repository is currently expected to be built in 2058-2067, exploited in 2068-2074 and shut down in 2075-2079. The construction of the repository has been estimated to cost 1 billion euros and its exploitation – another 900 million euros.

Studies carried out by Lithuania’s scientists have shown that spent nuclear fuel can be buried safely and it would be feasible technically, based on preliminary assessments.

The repository would be built at the depth of several hundred meters and safety of people and the environment would be ensured by both national barriers and artificial, or engineering, barriers.