Environmental Safety Aspects of the New Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Storage System at Ignalina NPP

In the framework of the preparation for the decommissioning of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) a new Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility (ISFSF) will be built in the existing sanitary protection zone (SPZ) of INPP. In addition to the ISFSF, the new spent nuclear fuel management activity will include all necessary spent nuclear fuel retrieval and packaging operations at the Reactor Units, transfer of storage casks to the ISFSF, and other activities appropriate to the chosen design solution and required for the safe removal of the existing spent nuclear fuel from storage pools and insertion into the new ISFSF. The Republic of Lithuania regulations require that the average annual dose to the critical group members of population due to operation of nuclear facility shall not exceed dose constraint. If several nuclear facilities are located in the same SPZ, the same dose constraint shall envelope radiological impacts from all operating and planned nuclear facilities. The paper discusses radiological safety assessment aspects as relevant for the new nuclear activity to be implemented in the SPZ of INPP considering specificity of Lithuanian regulatory requirements. The safety assessment methodology aspects, results and conclusions as concern public exposure are outlined and discussed.