(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Many come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance where results often follow only after completion of the programmes.
Budget for 2021-2027
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Rationale and design of the programme
The programme supports Lithuania in the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, while ensuring the highest level of safety.
The decommissioning allows removal of some or all regulatory controls from a nuclear facility, so for a nuclear power plant is the final step in its life cycle. The aim is to ensure long-term protection of the public and the environment. The decommissioning process involves among others the activities like shutdown of the nuclear power plant, the removal of spent fuel and nuclear material, the environmental restoration of the site. The decommissioning of nuclear power plants typically takes 20 to 30 years and implicates technical, technological, and financial challenges.
The Ignalina decommissioning programme is complex, as it is the first large power reactor with a graphite core to be dismantled.
In the application of its act of accession to the EU, Lithuania anticipated the shutdown of the two nuclear reactors in Ignalina within the agreed deadlines (2004 and 2009). The EU committed to providing financial support for the decommissioning, in accordance with approved plans, while ensuring the highest level of safety.
EU funding is justified since nuclear safety in Lithuania is essential for nuclear safety in the region and in the EU. Action at the EU level also has specific added value because it favours the dissemination of critical knowledge and know-how on the dismantling and decontamination processes.
The programme’s general objective is to assist Lithuania in implementing the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, with specific emphasis on managing the related safety challenges, while gaining knowledge with regard to the nuclear decommissioning process and the management of radioactive waste resulting from the decommissioning activities.
The specific objective of the programme is to carry out the dismantling and decontamination of the equipment and reactor shafts of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in accordance with the decommissioning plan – including the management of radioactive waste resulting from the decommissioning activities – and to continue with the safe management of the decommissioning and legacy waste.
The actions to be funded by the Ignalina programme are within the scope of the decommissioning plan presented to the Commission. The actions focus on activities relating to the delivery of the general and specific objectives and those with the highest EU added value, namely the removal of radiological hazards and the creation and dissemination of relevant knowledge.
The Commission implements the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme through indirect management. When services from third-party providers are needed for preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, they are subject to direct management.
Since 2001, implementation tasks have been entrusted to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which manages a dedicated multi-donor fund: the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund. In parallel, since 2005, projects are also managed through a national agency in Lithuania, the Central Project Management Agency.
Even though the final beneficiary of each programme is the Member State itself (Lithuania), the licence holder (Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant) of the facilities under decommissioning and the facilities for radioactive waste management is running the decommissioning activities.
The decommissioning programme has its own monitoring committee, which is responsible for overseeing the coordinated implementation of activities and funding of the decommissioning programme, irrespective of the funding source.
Finally, the Commission is assisted by the Nuclear Decommissioning Assistance Programme Committee, which is a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
The decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant has received EU support since 2001 under various instruments. The EU’s assistance under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework is the continuation of this long-term programme – which is scheduled to last until 2038 – with the additional objective of disseminating knowledge on the decommissioning process to all Member States. The activities funded in the 2021-2027 period will be subject to a maximum EU co-financing rate of 86%. Previously, this rate was not explicitly set.
Programme website:
Impact assessment:
- The impact assessment of the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme was carried out in 2018.
Relevant regulation:
Evaluations:
- Midterm evaluation on nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes to Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia (COM(2018) 468).
Other:
- Commission report on the implementation of the work under the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme to Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania and JRC programme in 2021 and previous years (COM(2022) 663).
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
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Financial programming:
+ EUR 0.0 million (+ 0%)
compared to the legal basis*
* Top-ups pursuant to Art. 5 MFF regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.
Budget performance – implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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Voted budget implementation (million EUR):
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- In 2023, EUR 68.8 million worth have been committed for the decommissioning to the Central Project Management Agency and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Commitments and payments in 2024 will follow the financial programming. This allocation of funds will sustain the ongoing progress of the decommissioning programme in Lithuania.
- Decommissioning projects are, in many cases, highly complex from the procurement and implementation point of view and extend over a long period. This explains the long interval between the programme’s commitments and payments.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
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- This programme does not provide a specific contribution to the green budgeting priorities..
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
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| Gender disaggregated information: |
|---|
| N/A |
The gender equality perspective was considered in developing Council Regulation (EU) 2021/101. Nonetheless, nuclear decommissioning is the primary and sole objective of the programme, which as such has no significant impact on gender equality.
Digital
Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):
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- There is no specific contribution to the digital transition provided by this programme.
Budget performance – outcomes
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Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- In the first phase, which started in 2020 and will run until 2027, the decommissioning operator will remove all peripheral components from the reactor shafts. The transfer in 2022 of the last fuel assemblies from the reactor building to storage casks and then to the interim spent fuel storage facility opened the way to the dismantling of the reactor core systems.
- However, the slow procurement process has caused delays in starting the design of that first-of-a-kind project, and the programme end date will need to be reassessed at the end of the optioneering stage.
- Meanwhile, radioactive-waste-processing activities are proceeding. The pre-disposal processing of very-low-level waste took place without major obstacles. The landfill repository was completed in 2021 and its operations started in 2022. With the start of the landfill operations, the pace of disposal will progressively increase based on a learning curve.
- The amount of low- and intermediate-radioactivity waste processed is lower than planned. The complex installations for waste processing did not immediately reach their nominal output and the dismantling operations produced a lower proportion of radioactive waste in these categories. The construction of the disposal facility for low-level waste is delayed.
- There are several reasons for the underperformance. The declining dismantling rate is due to the equipment to be dismantled having become progressively more radioactive and less accessible every year. In addition, dismantling in reactor shafts in unit 1 started in late autumn 2021 with a 9-month delay, because the nuclear regulator permit was received much later than scheduled. New dismantling equipment, the receipt of which is pending, will allow work to accelerate. There has been significant progress since the start of the works, but the rate of dismantling should further increase to achieve the overall objectives.
MFF 2014-2020 – Nuclear Decommissioning (Lithuania)
The programme supports Lithuania in the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, while keeping the highest level of safety.
Budget implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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- Decommissioning projects are, in many cases, highly complex from the procurement and implementation point of view and extend over a long period of time. This explains the interval between the commitments (which have reached 100%) and the payments (which have reached only 41%) of the programme.
- Nevertheless, the total payments made during the period 2014-2020 period (including also those related to 2007-2013 commitments), are EUR 430 million, which is in line with the commitments made for the 2014-2020 period. The cost of the work carried out since 2014 is within budget.
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Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- The progress against the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework programme’s objectives is generally satisfactory.
- The cores of both reactor units 1 and 2 were completely defueled in 2019 – a result achieved ahead of schedule and the safe storage of fresh and spent fuel assemblies was completed in 2022.
- The overall performance concerning the dismantling in the turbine hall and other auxiliary systems was satisfactory, with 43 730 tonnes of material dismantled from the turbine hall and 42 703 cubic metres of processed waste by the end of 2020 from the turbine hall and auxiliary buildings (against a target of 42 314 cubic metres).
- No safety incidents were registered during 2014-2020, showing that the objective of safely maintaining the reactor units has been consistently achieved. Although this is no longer a specific objective for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, no safety incidents were reported since then.
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
| SDG | Example |
|---|---|
| SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns | The programmes aim at optimising waste management, following a waste hierarchy approach whereby disposal is the last resort, after having maximised opportunities for re-use and mostly recycling. This involves increasing the circularity of materials in the economy, thereby reducing both the need for resource extraction and the amount of waste ending up in landfills. Such an approach would not only reduce environmental pressures, but also provide major economic and social benefits. In particular, the efforts to remove any residual radioactive contamination from dismantled and removed materials (mostly concrete, steel, and other alloys), as well as the thorough verification of compliance with clearance levels in line with Euratom Basic Safety |