Cyclife to process Swedish decommissioning waste metal

The dismantling of the units will generate materials and waste requiring specific treatment. Under the contract, Cyclife will be responsible for the sorting, categorisation and processing of metal materials and scrap. The metal will be transported to Cyclife's facility in Nyköping. The less contaminated metal will be melted and cast into ingots which will be released for public use. The more contaminated metal will be returned to Uniper for final disposal.

According to Uniper, about 6% of the units - representing about 67,000 tonnes of material - are radioactive and needs to be removed first during their decommissioning. Most of this material is low-level waste, it noted.

"We are keen to handle the active waste responsibly and sustainably," said OKG CEO, Johan Dasht. "We expect to be able to reclassify and recycle just over half - i.e. 33,000 tonnes of waste." Of the remaining material, about 16,000 tonnes of higher-level waste will be disposed of at Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB's (SKB's) planned repository at Forsmark, while 18,000 tonnes is of such low activity that it can be used as backfill.

Henrik Modéer, CEO of Cyclife Sweden, said: "For Cyclife, this agreement entails a partnership with Uniper where we further develop the treatment process, but also deliver services early in the project to help Uniper prepare and optimise the conditions for clearance and recycling."

Through the contract with Cyclife, OKG expects between 1500 and 2500 tonnes of waste to be processed annually until 2027, Dasht said. "This is a good example of the benefits we are getting by coordinating dismantling and demolition of the closed reactors at Oskarshamn and Barsebäck."

In December 2018, Uniper announced a "long-term and common strategy" for the demolition of the Barsebäck and Oskarshamn units. Under the strategy, the radiological demolition of the four reactors - during which all radioactive waste will be removed from each unit - will be carried out between 2020 and 2028. The total cost of decommissioning the Barsebäck and Oskarshamn units is estimated to be SEK10.0 billion (USD1.1 billion).

OKG awarded GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy a contract in December 2016 to dismantle the reactor internals of units 1 and 2 at the Oskarshamn plant. The work includes dismantling, cutting and packing the reactor internals for final disposal. All the segmentation work is to be carried out underwater. The segmentation project is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2020. Work to dismantle, segment and package the reactor pressure vessel internals at Barsebäck 1 and 2 is being undertaken by Westinghouse.