The first country to extend help with the safety improvements at the plant was Sweden. The first project in this programme of co-operation was BARSELINA, a Probabilistic Safety Analysis of the Ignalina NPP. Headed by the Director of the Swedish International Project for Nuclear Safety (SIP), Jan H. Nistad, it is still bringing significant support to the plant, including improvements in all the fire protection systems, communications systems, physical protection and in many other areas.

When the need to improve safety at Ignalina was identified and funds were made available from foreign countries, experts from the plant, together with representatives of VATESI and SKI (of Sweden, later reorganized into SIP), worked out a short-term safety programme which was financed by the nuclear safety account administered by the EBRD. Eighteen safety-related projects were selected, and expensive, reliable equipment was acquired and installed. For example, to improve the monitoring of equipment in the primary circuit, special diagnostic equipment is used during the maintenance work. The GEC Ahlstrom Corporation has manufactured a unique automated system Ñ a small robot to investigate the internal surfaces in the drum separators. Unique equipment for ultrasonic inspection of the fuel channels has also been introduced at the plant.

A full-scope simulator, conforming to Western standards, is under construction at the plant. This is a mathematical model of the plant with a full-scale replica of the central control room. This project is implemented by STN Atlas Electronik of Germany, together with experts from Lithuania. The Italian company SEA SpA will supply modern equipment for the monitoring of radioactivity in water and gas released into the environment. SEBIM, a French company, has provided modern valves for the primary circuit. Improvements are also being made in the area of fire protection: Sweden's Vattenfall has installed a new fire alarm system and fire-resistant doors. Special fire-resistant paint, produced by SWT Brandschutz of Germany, was used to cover the ceiling in the reactor and turbine rooms. These are only a few of the safety improvement projects at Ignalina NPP. Others are still on the way. A new safety improvement programme for the period to the year 2000 is being worked out.

The most urgent issue in the short term is the construction of a storage site for spent nuclear fuel. The plant has already received 10 CASTOR casks made by GNB of Germany, but the storage site has not yet been commissioned. According to the schedule, the design, licensing and construction of the storage site is to be completed in 1997.

In all countries operating nuclear reactors, huge efforts are directed towards implementation of safety at all nuclear infrastructure organizations. These developments are also evident at the Ignalina plant: there is a programme of policies in the area of safety and quality assurance, and a safety committee has been established, its members including the best experts from the Ignalina plant and the Lithuanian Energy Institute.

Operation of the plant after the year 2000 will be subject to the granting of a licence by the regulatory authority, VATESI. It is also very important to consider recommendations of the SAR and the international missions of the IAEA (ASSET and OSART), to prepare the relevant documentation and to perform an intense organizational work program.

We also have to attend to the training of new personnel who will operate a new generation of nuclear power plants based on our experience.