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Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 turbine hall operative diagram

photo: Ansis Starks

Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) - Biennale Architettura 2016

Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) - Biennale Architettura 2016

This diagram was produced for the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 control room and was used as operating instructions until the the unit was shut down in 2004.
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) became even more important for the national energy system after the restitution of Lithuania’s independence. Due to a surge in fossil fuels prices that are imported mainly from Russia, electricity generation costs at the nuclear power plant were almost two times lower than in other plants.
INPP produced sixty percent of Lithuanian electricity in 1991. In 1993 INPP produced a record amount—eighty eight percent of electricity necessary for the state. This figure was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest contribution to common electricity production in the world’s nuclear history.
After Lithuania took over its jurisdiction of INPP in 1991, it became the 31st state in the world using nuclear energy for electricity generation.
As INPP had an RBMK type reactor similar to the failed Chernobyl one, INPP has undergone a number of international studies and extensive safety analysis. It can be argued that the probability of the accident at Ignalina NPP and the overall level of safety were similar to the western nuclear safety standards. However, unlike other types of modern NPP, RBMK-type reactors have no protective shield that might contain radioactive material during an accident. For this reason western policy makers and organizations agree that RBMK-type reactors operating risks cannot be reduced to the extent that they are safe to operate permanently.
The Decommissioning Service was founded in 2000 which is the newest division of INPP. The Decommissioning Service is subordinate to the General Director of the INPP and its activity is financed by the Ignalina NPP Decommissioning Fund.
Following the resolutions taken by the Government INPP Unit 1 was shut down at the end of December 2004 and Unit 2 was closed on 31 December 2009. During the suspension of Unit 1 there were 3,517 employees at INPP and during the closure of Unit 2 there were 2,354 employees.
The construction of INPP necessitated the construction of 142 km of roads, 50 km of railway, 390 km of communication lines, 334 km of electricity lines, 133 km of sewerage lines, and 164 km of thermal lines. 3 544,000 m3 of concrete and reinforced concrete and 76,480 tons of reinforcement was used for the construction.

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  • Title: Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 turbine hall operative diagram
  • Creator: photo: Ansis Starks
Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) - Biennale Architettura 2016

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