Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant - History

History

Preparations for the construction began in 1974. Field work began four years later. Unit 1 came online in December 1983, and was closed on December 31, 2004. Unit 2 came online in August 1987 and was closed on December 31, 2009 at 23:00 EET (21:00 UTC). Originally, Unit 2 was scheduled for launch in 1986, but its commissioning was postponed for a year because of the Chernobyl accident. The construction of Unit 3 started in 1985, but was suspended in 1988 and its demolition began in 1989. Its dismantling was completed in 2008. Construction of the Unit 4 never started because of the public backlash against nuclear power following the Chernobyl disaster.

The town of Visaginas was built to accommodate the plant's workers. At the time, the settlements at Visaginas were no more than villages, making it a prominent example of "greenfield investment", a situation when a large town or industrial facility is built in an area with little existing infrastructure. It was sited next to the largest lake in Lithuania, Lake Drūkšiai (part of which lies in neighbouring Belarus) which provided the plant's cooling water. The temperature of the lake has risen by about 3°C (5.4°F), causing eutrophication. The plant's discharges of radionuclides and heavy metals have accumulated in lake waters and sediments.

Its spent fuel was placed in CASTOR and CONSTOR storage casks during the 2000s.

In 2005, Lithuanian authorities told that Russian agent Vladimir Alganov—earlier deported from Poland—had been granted a Lithuanian visa for some reason and he had met managers of Ignalina in 2003.