BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/11/2007

Lithuania decides on locality of entombment for radioactive waste.

VILNIUS, November 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Lithuania has made the decision on the locality of the construction of an entombment for low-level and medium-level radioactive waste. "The government has decided that it will be built near the site of the Ignalina nuclear power station," Dainius Janenas, the director of the state-run Radioactive Waste Management Agency (RATA), told Itar-Tass on Monday.

The entombment will be built near a deserted settlement. "Safety was the main reason for choosing the site," Janenas said. "It is preferable from the geological viewpoint, because of its closeness to the source of waste - the nuclear power plant, as well as because of the social aspect, its being uninhabited," he said. The agency's director said the opinion of Belarus had been taken into consideration. The facility is four kilometres removed from the Belarusian border. The other proposed site for the entombment (Galilauk) is two kilometres away from the Belarusian border.

Radioactive waste is presently deposited in the temporary storage on the territory of the Ignalina nuclear power station. The construction of the entombment on an area of 40 hectares will begin in 2013, and it will be put to use in 2016. When the lgnalina nuclear power station is shut down in late 2009, low-level and medium-level radioactive waste accumulated will amount to 100,000 cubic metres.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12111201&PageNum=0