Consortium handling RPV removal from two nuclear stations in Sweden

The Oskarshamn nuclear station, where two units have been shut down and one remains in service. Courtesy OKG/Uniper.

Germany-based Nukem Technologies Engineering Services has completed the dismantling of the second and final reactor pressure vessel (RPV) at Sweden’s Oskarshamn nuclear power station, marking a major milestone in nuclear waste management and decommissioning, a statement by the company said.

According to the statement, the decommissioning project, carried out by a consortium with Uniper Nuclear Services (UNS), involved the dismantling of four RPVs at two sites – Oskarshamn-1 and -2 and the older Barseback-1 and -2. The project began in July 2020.

Nukem said it segmented the last Oskarshamn RPV in situ, removed asbestos insulation, and leveraged specialised flame-cutting technology to prepare the vessel components for disposal.

UNS handled post-segmentation tasks and packaged the reactor parts into specialised containers.

Nukem and Uniper were awarded the dismantling contracts in 2019, with the value of works remaining undisclosed.

In 2020, Spain-based GD Energy Services was also awarded a contract to support the decommissioning of Barseback and Oskarshamn by providing “qualified manpower”.

Two 600-MW boiling water reactor units at Barseback were shut down in 1999 and 2005. Oskarshamn-1, a 473-MW BWR, and Oskarshamn-2, a 638-MW BWR, were shut down in 2017 and 2016.

Oskarshamn-3, the newest and most powerful reactor unit on site, will remain in commercial operation until 2045, with operators saying last year they would consider a lifetime extension even into the 2060s.

Sweden has six reactor units in commercial operation at three sites – Forsmark, Oskarshamn, and Ringhals. Nuclear power provided about 30% of the country’s electricity generation in 2023.