Lithuania reactors

Lithuania is more dependent on nuclear power than any other country in the world. Its two 1500-megawatt reactors produce more than 80 percent of the country s electricity. The reactors, however, are the same design as the unit that caused the Chernobyl disaster. With both reactors working, Lithuania can produce almost twice as much energy as its domestic demand, allowing the country to sell the excess to other nations. If one unit were shut down, however, the country... 

Thirty countries around the world now obtain some of their electricity from nuclear energy (Figure 22.10). Lithuania leads with 78%, followed by a number of other European countries that have also made a substantial commitment to the technology. The United States has been more cautious, with only 20% of its power coming from nuclear plants. Worldwide, 439 nuclear plants were in operation in early 2002, with an additional 32 under construction, most of them in Asia. Approximately 21% of the world s electrical power is generated by nuclear reactors. 

There are more than 400 operating nuclear reactors throughout the world. These reactors supply nearly 17% of the world s total electricity production capacity. The dependence on nuclear power varies significantly from country to country with some like Lithuania and France, which derive approximately 80% of their electricity from nuclear power to the United States, which while having the largest number of reactors at 104, only puUs 20% of its electricity from nuclear sources. 

In the 1990s there was much concern in Western Europe regarding the presence of Chemobyl-type (RBMK) reactors in the EU and the status of the Ignalina plant became one of the main issues in the Lithuanian accession negotiations (Euro.Lt, 2008)). The fourth protocol of Lithuania s treaty of accession to the European Union states in Article 1 ... 

The 2007 Lithuanian Energy Strategy observes that the pressures of Lithuanian electricity security in the coming years are such that the new NPP must enter service by 2015 at the latest (Miskinis et al., 2008, p. 41). As the reactor type has not yet been selected, and some financial issues still remain unresolved, this author is skeptical that this requirement will indeed be met in time, in which case there is presumably the risk of a serious electricity security threat looming for Lithuania in the second half of the coming decade. 

Within its various specialties, the TRACTEBEL Group is active in about one hundred countries. The presence of TRACTEBEL in the CIS is well known, more specifically in the Russian Federation in the engineering studies and backfitting for safety and reliability (EU-TACIS-BERD) for VVER-1000 and RMBK and a reactor simulator for the Beloyark reactor. In Ukraine, TRACTEBEL made feasibility studies for a nuclear power plant. The company developed a simulator for an RBMK reactor in Lithuania and is very active in the construction and operation of electrical power and heat generation plants in Kazakhstan. 

RBMK reactors of the same physical size as Chernobyl, but with improved heat transfer surface on the fuel cans, are operating at 1500 MW(e) at Ignalis in Lithuania. This was the standard for new RBMK plants. The RBMK type of reactor supplied 70% of the nuclear electricity in 1985, the balance being supplied by the Soviet type of PWR (WER). There have been problems in meeting the target production of heavy pressure vessels for these PWR reactors. 

Staff at Forsmark Nuclear Power Station in Sweden detected radioactive contamination on clothes of staff. Non-essential staff evacuated and emergency services alerted. Reactor shutdown. Swedes noted figures from automatic recorders and other sources. Decided line of contamination lay through Lithuania in direction of the Ukraine... 

A similar move took place when the Baltic States applied for admission to the European Union. In 2010, Lithuania was required to close down its second and final RBMK reactor at Ignalina before it could gain membership in the EU. The Europeans were concerned about Lithuania s ability to safely operate this Chemobyl-style reactor (Anon., 2013). 

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