Decommissioning a Dream is a short documentary film set in the remote Lithuanian border town of Visaginas – a former Soviet town that is defined by its founding purpose of housing the workers and builders of what was once one of the world’s most powerful nuclear power stations. Set near the borders with Latvia and Belarus, the Ignalina twin-reactor plant had big ambitions which secured energy independence for Lithuania. However, the idea of an ex-Soviet nuclear power plant in the heart of Europe that shared the same RBMK reactor technology as the ill-fated Chernobyl proved unpalatable for Brussels, and its decommissioning became a central condition of Lithuania’s acceptance into the European Union.

The impact of the plant’s closure on the town of Visaginas and the generation that built it became the subject of Laurie Griffiths and Jonty Tacon’s photographic study, completed around 2015. As they immersed themselves in the once closed community of largely Russian-speaking Lithuanians that still lived in the town and gained unprecedented access to the deeply-guarded inner sanctum of the power station itself, a picture of pride, survival, community and fractured identity emerged. Laurie and Jonty returned to Visaginas nearly a decade later to explore how the town has continued to evolve and find new purpose and see how the planned ‘complete removal’ of the Ignalina plant has progressed. The story of Ignalina provides a powerful insight into what is involved, both financially and in terms of human endeavour, on this vital aspect of nuclear power that is often overlooked or over-simplified – especially pertinent at a time when nuclear power is becoming an increasingly relevant component in the global energy mix.

Visaginas provides us with a lens through which we can view first-hand how rapid change impacts a community that was bound by a shared purpose of working towards the creation of a more certain future, only to have that outcome taken away by forces beyond their control.

Laurie Griffiths and Jonty Tacon