Maišiagala radioactive waste storage facility

Maišiagala Radioactive Waste Storage Facility is a 200 m³ capacity monolithic reinforced concrete basement, located at a depth of 3 metres, located in Bartkuškis Forest, Municipality of Širvintai District and  9 km from Maišiagala and 40 km away from Vilnius.

This “Radon”-type waste storage facility was closed in 1989. It stores radioactive waste collected from industrial enterprises, medical and scientific institutions during the 1963-1989 period. Major part of this waste consists of disused sealed sources, for instance, devices not in use, sensors containing radioactive sources, such as smoke detectors and radioactive waste generated during the science researches.

At the time of closure, this facility was only partly filled with waste (about 60% of the volume). The waste was inter-layered with concrete. Sealed sources are stored in stainless steel containers. The residual volume was filled with sand, covered with concrete, bitumen, asphalt and a thick layer of soil. In 2004-2006 the Maišiagala storage was essentially upgraded by installing new radiological and physical protection barriers.

In accordance with previous requirements, the waste was not sorted and long-lived and short-lived waste used to be accumulated in the same place. Radioactive waste has to be removed, sorted, packed in special packages and placed in the waste disposal facilities for each type of waste. These works are performed by SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in accordance with the decommissioning licence of Maišiagala Radioactive Waste Storage Facility, issued by VATESI on May 13, 2021. According to the decommissioning plan, radioactive waste stored in Maišiagala facility will be sorted and shipped to the Ignalina NPP radioactive waste treatment and storage facilities.

16 November 2023, VATESI approved the report submitted by the SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant on the testing of the decommissioning activities of the storage facility without the use of radioactive waste and issued a conclusion on the compliance of the new containment structures and the equipment installed therein with the design solutions implementing the requirements of nuclear safety, radiation protection, physical protection and accounting and control of nuclear material. The enterprise is currently conducting hot tests (tests with radioactive waste) of the storage facility. During these tests, part of the radioactive waste will be removed, placed in radioactive waste packages and transported to the Ignalina NPP for further treatment, in accordance with the hot test programme agreed with VATESI.

Updated: 04-12-2023