“Yes, we [GNS] sent all the promised documents to Lithuania, containing the information to prove that all casks meet the safety requirements and are thus fit for purpose,” a GNS representative, Michael Kobl, told BNS.
Kobl earlier said that “non-conformities of the casks are just minor deviations, which are usual during manufacturing”.
INPP CEO Žilvinas Jurkšus confirmed to BNS on Tuesday night that the documents had been received yet added that he had not familiarized himself with their content.
More than 500 pages of documents were sent electronically and their assessment might take a month or longer, Jurkšus said.
“If we are satisfied with the technical characteristics of the casks, we will apply to VATESI [the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate] over modifications to the project,” Jurkšus told BNS.
The media earlier reported that the majority of Constor RBMK-1500 type spent nuclear fuel storage casks manufactured and delivered by GNS, a Nukem’s subcontractor, were non-certified and not adapted for shipping. Moreover, it was unclear how to ensure high-quality welding of double lids of the casks and whether the concrete floor of the interim storage facility would be strong enough to hold the 118-ton casks.
13 November was the last date for GNS to provide documents supporting technical characteristics of the casks and their suitability for use.
Jurkšus said that GNS had so far manufactured 150 out of 200 casks required, of which four had already been delivered to Visaginas, the site of INPP. All the casks did not comply with the project’s technical specifications and did not have the necessary certificates. INPP had already paid for more than 70 casks, he said.
The consortium of GNS and Nukem Technologies, which is controlled by Russia’s energy giant Rosatom, is implementing multi-billion-litas decommissioning projects at INPP with much delay. 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.
Lithuania seeks to reach an agreement with Nukem on the schedule for the implementation of specific works of the solid radioactive waste storage complex project, known as B2/3/4, and on the “technical issues” of the spent storage facility project, known as B1, in November. The parties have been arguing over the soaring price of works and the terms of their implementation for several years.
According to Nukem, by the end of August, Lithuania paid 50 percent of the amount due for the casks, 72 percent of the amount due for the B1 project, and 36 percent of the amount due for the B2/3/4 project.
