Closure of Ignalina nuclear power plant becomes costly
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Costs of closure of Ignalina nuclear power plant (INPP) goes up,
the estimated completion dates are rescheduled, therefore
resources of Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund
may be insufficient, and national Budget funds may be used to
that end. Such was an opinion of the National Audit Office,
which had analysed decommissioning of the power plant. “In order
to improve the current situation, our State should take on more
leverage to manage the closure process,“ says Auditor General
Rasa Budbergytë. |
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purpose - LTL 872 - million were used. Due to lagging implementation of
projects – up to three years – their costs grew up by about two times.
Increase in costs was mostly caused by growing prices of materials and
works, as well as services of consultants. NAOL pointed out that a
contractor received an advance payment for a large part of works, which
were not even started yet, therefore the contractor could use the funds
for its own purposes. It is stressed that additional funds will be
needed for storing of nuclear fuel not in specially equipped storage
facilities, but in the closed power plant.
The NAOL emphasized that the manner of future financing of the
decommissioning of INPP is not planned yet. Therefore a model for
continuation of financing of the closure of power plant was proposed to
the Ministry of Energy. It was also recommended to start negotiations
with the European Commission for a financial assistance to Lithuania
until the full closure of the nuclear power plant.
It was also detected during the audit that a general control and
accountability system of power plant closure process, which would allow
more efficient management of the process and control of progress of
projects‘ implementation is not developed.
As a matter of fact, decommissioning works are performed by the
Decommissioning Service under the Director of the nuclear power plant;
however, neither in statutes of the plant, nor in regulations of General
Director the responsibility for omission or incorrect action is not
provided for.
The NAOL recommended the Government to authorize an independent entity
to carry out the monitoring and management of projects implemented by
the power plant, to ensure the control of decommissioning of the nuclear
power plant and to be directly accountible to Governmental institutions.
Public audit report is available in Lithuanian:
Use of Funds for Closure of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant