GE Hitachi to dismantle Oskarshamn units

Tuesday, 3 January 2017

US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has been awarded a three-year contract to dismantle the reactor internals of units 1 and 2 at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden.

Oskarshamn units 1 and 2 (Image: OKG)

Under a contract signed with plant operator OKG AB on 19 December, Wilmington, North Carolina-based GEH will segment the reactor pressure vessel internals of both units. The work includes dismantling, cutting and packing the reactor internals for final disposal.

Segmentation of the reactor internals of Oskarshamn 2 is scheduled to begin in January 2018, with that of unit 1 set for 2019. The segmentation project is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2020.

Lance Hall, executive vice president of GEH's nuclear services business, said today: "This is a breakthrough project for us in the decommissioning space in Europe and we look forward to drawing upon the many resources of the 'GE Store', including the depth of the global supply chain of GE and the former Alstom power businesses to deliver superior safety and cost efficient performance for our customer."

German utility EOn - the major shareholder in OKG - decided in October 2015 that Oskarshamn 1 and 2 will be shut down permanently. Unit 3 is unaffected by the decision. At that time it said unit 1 would close between 2017 and 2019, there would be no future investments at unit 2 and the reactor will not be restarted. Last February, OKG announced the decision to shut down Oskarshamn 1 in conjunction with a planned outage at the end of June 2017.

Oskarshamn 1, a 473 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR), started up in 1972, while Oskarshamn 2 is a 638 MWe BWR which began operating in 1974. Oskarshamn 3 is a 1400 MWe BWR which began operating in 1985.

"One condition required in order for Oskarshamn unit 3 to be able to produce climate-efficient electricity until the year 2045 is that we perform the decommissioning activities at units 1 and 2 in a safe and cost-efficient manner," said OKG managing director Johan Dasht. "One of the milestones of this work has now been reached with the signing of this contract."

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News