Lithuania should plan for potential project risks in the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said. Such planning should ensure that future costs and scheduling "remain realistic".

Cold testing - one of the first stages of the commissioning process - has started at the new Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility for units 1 and 2 of the shut-down Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania. In a separate statement, the state enterprise responsible for decommissioning the plant said over 30,000 tonnes of nuclear-related equipment had been dismantled since the process started in 2010.

A licence for the construction and operation of a very low-level radioactive waste disposal facility near the Ignalina nuclear power plant has been issued by the Lithuanian nuclear regulator.

Cold testing - one of the first stages of the commissioning process - has started at the new Solid Waste Management and Storage Facilities at the shut down Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania.

Lithuanian state enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant has applied to the country's regulator, Vatesi, for a licence to construct and operate a surface storage facility for low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste, known as the B25 project. The company is managing the decommissioning of the plant, which was named after the nearby city of Ignalina in the municipality of Visaginas.

An expert group from the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that the environmental impact assessment for the Baltic nuclear power plant under construction in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad meets international standards.

Work has started at the second unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania to dismantle its emergency core cooling system and to remove contaminated components from its turbine hall. The two projects are to be completed in June 2015 and by 2029, respectively.

The Czech government has expressed the common view of ten European countries in favour of nuclear power in a letter to the European Commission.

Leaders of Lithuania's seven parliamentary parties have underlined their commitment to the construction of the Visaginas nuclear power plant in a document setting out the nation's strategic goals.

More European Union money will go to decommission nuclear reactors in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania, but the bloc's Council of Ministers has requested tighter project management.

Work may be halted on the Baltic nuclear power plant project as the possibility to export its power appears less certain.

Lithuania's optimal power mix would include nuclear along with a range of other sources, said new prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius, but the Visaginas project's economics are critical and need the buy-in of local partners.