News
Publish date: April 15, 1998
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
On April 2, second reactor unit at Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania was shut down due leakage in the reactor cooling system. In connection to the incident the repair works on the first reactor unit planned for the beginning of April were postponed.
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is operating on two Soviet design RBMK-1500 reactors commissioned in 1983 and 1987. The plant covers some 80% of the electricity needs for the republic of Lithuania.
The emergency shut down at Ignalina was the forth incident of the kind RBMK-type reactors have experienced so far in 1998. Earlier this year there were two emergency shut downs at Kursk NPP and one at Leningrad NPP.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.