Rusatom Overseas, a subsidiary of Rosatom, confirmed officially on Tuesday that its vice-president, Alexander Merten, met with Lithuania’s Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius in Visaginas last week and informed him about the problems with the facility’s decommissioning project.
“Merten pointed out that the works being continued under the B1 project are currently financed by Russia’s companies so as to avoid the suspension of complicated technological processes and possible failure to make payments to contractors for the works done,” the company said in a press release.
Merten also spoke with Lithuania’s government leader about possible bilateral cooperation in nuclear energy field, the release said.
Butkevičius told BNS on Saturday that it was Merten who told him that Nukem had been using its own funds for financing INPP decommissioning works.
Nukem, which is fully owned by Atomstroyexport, a Rosatom’s subsidiary, has repeatedly stated that it is co-funding the decommissioning of Ignalina nuclear facility. Last June, Nukem claimed that it had already invested more than 10 million euros of its own funds in the spent nuclear fuel storage facility (B1) and another 54 million euros in the solid radioactive waste storage complex (B2/3/4).
A consortium of Nukem Technologies and GNS is implementing multi-billion-litas decommissioning projects at the Ignalina plant. Works are running years behind schedule. The companies are building a solid radioactive waste storage facility complex and an interim spent fuel storage facility, initially estimated to cost 123 million euros and 193 million euros, respectively.
