IAEA approves Baltic environmental report

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

The twin VVER-1200 Baltic project is a stand-out project for Russia: the first to be opened to investment by European utilities; the first intended to export most of its output; and the first to use Western components such as an Alstom-Atomenergomash steam turbine. The general contractor for the project is Nizhny Novgorod-based Atomenergoproekt and its subcontractor is JSC Northern Construction Management. First concrete for the twin-unit plant was poured in February 2012.

Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, said yesterday that IAEA experts had studied the EIA for the Baltic plant for more than a year and that their final report will be submitted to the agency in January. The group assessed radiation protection and monitoring, radioactive waste and the transport of used nuclear fuel in accordance with IAEA safety standards and the United Nations Espoo Convention on EIA in a transboundary context.

The EIA for the Baltic plant – which is in the Neman district of the Kaliningrad enclave between Poland and Lithuania - analyzed its potential impact on Belarus, Poland and Lithuania.

Lithuania was invited to consider the prospect, instead of building Visaginas as a Baltic states plus Poland project, but declined. However in April Rosatom said the Baltic plant was designed to "operate within the unified grid of the Baltics and North-West of Russia". But now, due to potential isolation of the Kaliningrad Region grid, Rosatom "has to rebuild its project completely." The polar crane was delivered in August.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News