OREANDA-NEWS. On 20 September 2016, the Nuclear Safety Inspectorate of Lithuania (VATESI) granted an operating license for the interim storage facility for spent fuel (ISFSF) at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. This operating licence is a major step towards the decommissioning of Ignalina NPP.

The interim storage facility, including equipment components and CONSTOR® RBMK 1500/M2 casks, was designed and constructed on a turn-key basis specially for the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant by a consortium consisting of GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH and NUKEM Technologies GmbH. The interim storage facility is located in the immediate vicinity of the plant. This facility will provide for a safe storage of the spent fuel rods from both of the RBMK reactors for next 50 years.

The operating license secured as a result of the successful performance of GNS – NUKEM consortium marks an important milestone in the decommissioning process and lays a solid foundation for subsequent dismantling activities at the Ignalina NPP.

The Project is financially supported by the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund, which is managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

ASE Group of Companies is established within the framework of formation of the engineering division of State Corporation «Rosatom» by integration of four leading companies of the branch: NIAEP JSC, ASE JSC, Atomenergoproekt JSC, ATOMPROEKT JSC.

ASE Group of Companies is one of the leaders of the world atomic engineering business taking more than 30% of the global NPP construction market.

The representative offices and operational offices of ASE Group of Companies are operating in the territories of 15 countries of the world, almost 80% of the ASE portfolio of orders account for the projects abroad.

Besides, ASE is implementing the projects for construction of RAW and SNF treatment facilities, heat power industry facilities, as well as it rendering complete spectrum of EPC services, EPC(M) and PMC services for any complex engineering facilities. ASE Group of Companies is the developer and is intensively introducing the innovation project management system for construction of complex engineering facilities – Multi-D, which allows to manage more efficiently such parameters as: the budget, deadlines, quality. The President of ASE Group of Companies is Valery Igorevich Limarenko, Doctor of Economics.