[5] At the time, the settlements at Visaginas were no more than villages, making it a prominent example of "greenfield investment", a situation when a large town or industrial facility is built in an area with little existing infrastructure.

[13] In 2005, the State Security Department of Lithuania investigated the activities of Vladimir Alganov, who in 1997 had been expelled from Poland for espionage, and learned that he had met with the management of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and at their request obtained a long-term Lithuanian visa in 2002.

Other nuclear organizations and RBMK plants were informed of the problem, but it was not addressed until after a similar power surge partly caused the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster.

[17] According to an Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant press release, on June 6, 2009, at 09:15 EEST (06:15 UTC), the automatic reactor protection system was actuated and Unit 2 was shut down.

Plant officials decided to keep it off-line for thirty days, performing the annual preventive maintenance in June, instead of August 29–September 27 as originally scheduled.

[18] As a condition of entry into the European Union, Lithuania agreed in 1999 to close existing units of the station, citing the Ignalina plant's lack of a containment building as a high risk.

[20] Others were afraid that the price of electricity would skyrocket or that Lithuania would be left to cope with the extremely high costs of decommissioning the plant and disposing of its nuclear waste.

[21] President Valdas Adamkus opposed the measure on grounds that continued operation would not respect Lithuania's international commitments.

[25] Responding to concerns that Lithuania would become more dependent on Russian energy sources that could be withdrawn if relations deteriorate, President Dalia Grybauskaitė issued reassuring statements in late 2009.

[31] On 26 November 2002, Lithuanian government passed a resolution to the effect that the Ignalina NPP Unit 1 is to be decommissioned through immediate dismantling.

The choice of method was influenced by economic and social factors, safety aspects, and decommissioning work experience at other nuclear power plants.

Representatives of Ignalina NPP were also in favor of immediate dismantling because in this case prerequisites would be created for improving employment rate.

[33] In 2001 the Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund was established, administered by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

[31] Strategic energy projects financed by the European Union included construction of the new unit at the Elektrėnai Power Plant.

[33] Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service is responsible for transporting storing the radioactive material from the water tanks at Ignalina's units.

[31] According to Osvaldas Čiukšys, the former CEO of the Ignalina plant, Nukem Technologies is going to request an additional €100 million for completing the nuclear waste storage facility.

This was opposed by the former vice minister of energy and chairman of the board of Ignalina plant Romas Švedas, who unexpectedly resigned on 6 September 2011.