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Publish date: May 9, 2005
News
The decision to close it has been taken under pressure from the West, said former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov, who is in the Swiss prison now. He was addressing the sitting of the Ignalina commission in the Lithuanian parliament (Seim) on April 13, RIA-Novosti reported.
He said that both power units of the Ignalina plant are as safe as similar reactors of the same age in the West Europe and are designed for 45 years service life. The first unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, started up in 1983, has lifetime until 2029 and the second unit until 2031, Adamov said. He noted that all the investigation and design data shows that no grounds exist for closing the Ignalina facility and it is "a purely political decision".
Lithuania shut down the first Ignalina reactor (Chernobyl type) on December 31, 2004, and pledged to put the entire plant out of service by December 31, 2009. This was one of the principal conditions for Lithuania’s entering the European Union in May 2004. The government of Lithuania has estimated the Ignalina closure at three billion euros (including expenses on the social sector).
Last March Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said that, "closure of the second power unit of the Ignalina plant by 2010 would be possible only if Lithuania joins the West European energy system".
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.