How the Ignalina NPP unsuccessfully tried to sell unused nuclear fuel

A worker walks through the first reactor of the Ignalina NPP in Visaginas, 2016. Photo: AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis

France's Refusal

Patricija Ceiko, advisor to the nuclear energy policy group of the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy, says that the plant offered to sell the unused fuel for reprocessing to a French company, but it refused to buy it.

"We approached one of the most advanced companies, a French one, which could handle this [reprocessing of nuclear fuel]. The French very clearly said "no", refusing to accept this fuel, as reprocessing NPP fuel is too expensive for them. Fuel is produced for each reactor according to a separate recipe, and the answer was: what was produced for the Ignalina NPP is not suitable in composition for reprocessing this fuel in France," Ceiko said at a meeting of the Seimas Audit Committee on Wednesday.

Linas Baužys, head of Ignalina NPP, told BNS that

if the French company took the fuel for reprocessing, France itself would use it, but all radioactive waste remaining after reprocessing would be returned to Lithuania.

Negotiations with Russia

According to Ceiko, negotiations were also held with Russia regarding the free transfer of unused fuel, but these negotiations ceased when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ceiko later explained that initially, they wanted to sell the unused fuel to Russia, but when Russia refused to buy it, negotiations were held for its free transfer.

"There were attempts to transfer the [unused] fuel to Russia even for free, because it would have been beneficial for us too (...), and an agreement was reached. Schemes for transporting this unused nuclear fuel to Russian territory were being coordinated. We negotiated with Latvia, as this cargo must be accompanied by an armed escort. All of this was done with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but everything stopped because the war in Ukraine began," Ceiko said at the committee meeting.

Jolita Mažeikienė, spokesperson for Ignalina NPP, reported that the plant has 2.4 thousand tons of spent fuel and only 8 tons of unused fuel.

Baužys, the head of the plant, informed the commission that the company had been tasked with finding a country to which the unused nuclear fuel could be sold, but this would require the consent of Russia, from which it was purchased. According to him, if the fuel could be sold, it would not need to be placed in a deep repository.

According to Mikhail Demchenko, head of the State Atomic Energy Safety Inspectorate, reprocessing unused nuclear fuel is impractical because its enrichment is too low.

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