3.79 BYN
2.80 BYN
3.21 BYN
Exclusion Zone: Under what conditions is dismantling of Ignalina NPP taking place?
In Lithuania, everyone remembers the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, and not as a legacy of the Soviet occupation. Had the country not met the terms of the European Union, the station would still be operational. Ultimately, Lithuania has neither energy, no security.
The NPP has ceased to exist, but "the corpse (that's what the nuclear workers call it) turned out to be restless." There is no proper system for disposal of hazardous substances in Lithuania. However, it is getting more and more difficult to find out the truth. - Learn the details from Anastasia Benedisyuk.
"High radioactivity, toxicity of aerosols, increased fire hazard" - under such conditions, the dismantling of the Ignalina nuclear power plant takes place. I quote the veteran of the Lithuanian nuclear power plant, Vladimir Kuznetsov. He has been beating an alarm during all these years: not only the national security, but also the security of neighboring states is under threat.
Interestingly, Lithuania promises that by 2038 there will be no Ignalina! And how do they plan to recycle it? - They keep silent!
They chose a super strategy: We do as we find it possible and are going to get back to the issue in some 5 years.
Next quote: "The planning of work is carried out from the achieved level and not more than 5 years in advance."
But what are you going to do with radioactive graphite, which is all around there? - The reactors walls are made of it. They have to be dismantled, but there is no a proper technology for that in the entire world! The studies are carried out at the laboratory stage so far.
Vladimir Kuznetsov from Ignalina claims: due to the high level of gamma and beta radiation, the disassembly of graphite masonry by people is impossible, this should be done by unique robots. And they still need to be created and trained.
Also, you can't do without designing and building a full-scale simulator, developing appropriate software, and training operators... Besides, the graphite dust is explosive.
And here we remember about planning for 5 years. Do you think that Lithuania now has robots and simulators?
The process of disassembling graphite masonry will require a safe technology for grinding bricks, graphite fragments and immobilizing graphite into a geopolymer matrix in a protective container. But there is no such technology either. Provision should also be made for the release of radioactive and toxic chlorine-36 and tritium into the premises, where the staff work.
Irradiated reactor graphite affects DNA and RNA... In 2016, the IAEA recognized the potential dangers posed by the world with the handling, disposal and final disposal of irradiated reactor graphite.
There are 3770 tons of irradiated graphite in Lithuania.
Security seems to be not the primary goal of LITHUANIA. (We’ll talk about profits a little later)
For now, there is a violation of operating rules. That happened at Ignalina NPP too! Representatives of the IAEA recorded the fact of the release of spent nuclear fuel outside from the damaged heat-releasing element. And it happened already after the shutdown of the nuclear power plant. Tomorrow, by the way, is the anniversary. The accident occurred on October 5, 2010.
Let me remind you that the first unit of the nuclear power plant was stopped in December 2004, and the second in December 2009. It turns out that the threats are still real.
The defect seems to have been eliminated, but is it guaranteed? After all, Lithuania said: everything is within the normal range and this is just a small incident! 300 tons of high-oxygen liquid... This is an incident about which Belarus was not even informed.
... But what will they tell the residents of the nuclear workers' town of Visaginas, who liquidated it manually? How many employees have been exposed?
Ignalina, as long as it exists, remains a source of danger, it is a source of high danger. Moreover, we know what the Lithuanian leadership is like. We cannot rule out the targeted sabotage. We cannot rule out imitations of terrorist attacks to blame anyone. Well, it is clear who - Russia, Belarus. We can't rule out anything, because Lithuania has absolutely crazy politicians in power. People who, for the sake of some ephemeral political goals, are ready to betray everything: economy, security, and the lives of their own population.
By the way, there was an emergency at Ignalina in 2016, when the fire was extinguished, and in 2017, when a nuclear reaction almost began there. But they kept silent! The experts suggest that the IAEA representatives should be assigned to Ignalina on a permanent basis. The weapons are no longer about just sanctions, but also about terrorism, remember the Nord Stream.
The Lithuanians criticized us so much for Chernobyl, they attacked the Belarusian nuclear power plant so much, but if any other "Chernobyl" is possible anywhere, this is naturally Ignalina. And this should be taken with full responsibility.
But there is nothing of the kind! Big money has blurred their eyes.
According to the information of US Department of Justice: during 6 years, from 1999 to 2004, an American company (Data Systems & Solutions) was giving bribes in order to get orders from Ignalina NPP. As a result, the orders amounted to 13 million dollars!
Fact
Data Systems & Solutions paid $50,000 in checks and money orders, through intermediaries, to the then head of Measurement and Control, $30,000 to his deputy, $44,000 to the director of International Projects, and $16,000 to the chief IT specialist.
There were also criminal cases for fraud in the organization of property auctions... What's more, the employees and security guards themselves were stealing - the big American money never reached them!
So, a cassette with nuclear fuel weighing 270 kilograms was missing. The fact of theft was recognized 4 years later.
Now they regret they followed these EU orders. Their condition was the closure of the nuclear power plant neglecting the safety issue. The EU, by the way, promised its total support in this deal.
Some problems emerged in recent years, and the EU is not ready to give money. The cost of dismantling the station varies greatly. Every year the price rises, but if earlier there were some agreements or expectations that 80% of the costs might be covered by the EU, and 20% by Lithuania from its budget. Now this proportion is somehow changing. The EU had to allocate 700 million euros for the liquidation process. Then they made a greedy move by allocating 400 million for this, which rose to 500 million as a result of hard negotiations, the rest was shoved on to Lithuania. Naturally, the Lithuanian state is both hungry and crazy. There is no money for this, there will be no control over the allocation of money either.
And here's another thing I would like to point to.
Lithuanians are building burial sites. There are already some areas. They promise almost an art object. And this is 4 kilometers off the Belarusian border. Radioactive waste will be stored there. They promise to keep it safe - but there's no surety in that anymore. And they promise to store it for 50 years and what happens next? And in general, what 50 years can we talk about, if the strategy allows them thinking no more than 5 years ahead!