BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
02/02/2008
Radioactive waste repository to be constructed in Lithuania
Lithuania is to embark on a project to construct the country's first low and intermedium radioactive waste repository near the Belarusian and Latvian borders.
Vaida Pilibaityte from Vilnius has more
It took three years to find a suitable site for the first facility of this kind to be built in the country, which is shutting down its Chernobyl type nuclear power plant. Experts agree that they had to make concessions and choose a geologically less suitable option. But they claim that safety will not be compromised.
Experts say that radioactive waste repository is necessary as it is much safer and cheaper way of storing hazardous substances than at the reactor as it is done right now.
Lithuanian Radioactive Waste Management Agency (RATA) has been researching possible sites for the repository for some four years and studied two of them in greater detail.
One of them - Galilauke, in the Ignalina District, is in an area less than a kilometer from the Lithuanian and Belarusian border. The other one - Apvardai lies further 3 km away.
Despite the fact that both of them, especially the one in Galilauke, were suitable from the geological point of view, experts could not go on with the project at either of them. The head of the agency Dainius Janenas explains why.
"We received petitions from Belarus and Latvia, resident of those countries were really against it. Therefore our Environment ministry and Government had to take it into account and opt for a different location for the repository. Local municipalities demanded way too great compensations as well," he says.
The third location investigated for the radioactive waste repository is situated at the former Stabatiske village, in the Visaginas Municipality, close to the Ignalina nuclear power plant (NPP) and some 4 km from the border with neighbouring Belarus.
The agency hopes to use some of the infrastructure of the existing nuclear power plant and ensure much safer transportation of waste containers to the site than in the case of the remaining two locations considered.
But experts admit that greater international acceptance was the main arguments in favor of this particular site. Even though the costs of building the repository here will be much higher because of underground waters that are dangerously high.
"Of course the Galilauke option would be cheaper, even though we would have to relocate one local resident from there and build more roads. But even considering extra costs for the irrigation system, Stabatiske has more advantages and we can assure you that safety will not be compromised," Janenas adds.
The head of the Environmental impact assessment unit at the Lithuanian Ministry of Environment, Vitalijus Auglys, claims that compromise was the only option when choosing internationally and locally acceptable solution.
"There are no ideal locations for sites like this, just like there are no ideal locations for household waste disposal grounds, for example. People always object to building them in the neighbourhood.
"Of course the social aspect was an important one, but no matter what, we have to ensure the highest safety standards for at least 300 years. Our studies show that it is possible on this site and it was confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency too," Auglys notes.
Similar waste repositories are already in operation in France, Spain and Sweden. Processed waste will be packed into concrete containers and covered with several protecting layers.
A hundred thousand cubic metres of radioactive clothing, furniture and other materials will have to be safely deposited in the area of 40 hectares.
The responsibility for designing the repository rests with the Ignalina NPP.
Dr. Stasys Motiejunas from the waste management anency RATA explains why this particular repository model was chosen for Lithuania:
"Swedish experts suggested that we cover the repository with stones. But as its considered to be a valuable construction material in Lithuania, we had to diregard this option as unsafe. We will plant it over with the layer of grass and look after it to avoid the growth of trees."
"There will be a thick layer of soil under the grass and a metre think layer of clay underneath - protecting the concrete containers with waste from water," Motiejunas says.
Experts also stress that the construction will also meet the so-called inherent safety standards - it will remain safe despite absent engineering facilities and human interference.
The distinct nature of the object that requires hundreds of years of monitoring determined the choice of old and reliable building materials. Luckily, a high-quality waterproof clay is what Lithuania has in abundance.
The design work is to start this year, the construction in 2012, and the near-surface repository is to be commissioned in 2015.
The costs of the project are estimated between 100-200 million euros, all to be provided by European Reconstruction and Development Bank and European Commission.
Source:
Archive
