Power company Fortum is entering into close co-operation with its strategic subsidiary Uniper to offer nuclear decommissioning and dismantling services for nuclear companies.
Through this cooperation, Fortum and Uniper combine decades of nuclear experience and a wide variety of competencies which will create world-class value to the customers. The future vision is to become a market leader in Europe.
“Nuclear power plants around Europe are in different phases of the life cycle. At the same time, as new reactors are being planned and built, there are also plants that will be shut down and dismantled. Here we see attractive opportunities to create joint service offering and our joint target is to become the market leader in nuclear decommissioning and dismantling in Europe”, says Johan Svenningsson, CEO of Uniper Sweden.
“Uniper is developing strong decommissioning competences and have a unique reference with their decommissioning program in Sweden. Fortum will bring to the cooperation complementary competences in the waste and decommissioning area, as well as our customer-centric way of working. In our Nuclear Services business we have served customers for many years already with excellent customer satisfaction results, says Petra Lundström, Vice President, Co-owned assets and Nuclear Services at Fortum.
“Earlier this year, Fortum and Uniper announced joint service offering for utility customers and energy-intensive industries. Fortum and Uniper joining forces also in the nuclear business area is a winning combination for scaling up and developing a significant business portfolio in nuclear decommissioning services”, says Lundström.
Initially, cooperation will focus on the on-going decommissioning and dismantling of four reactors in Uniper's Swedish nuclear power fleet. These are Barsebäck units 1 and 2, and Oskarshamn units 1 and 2 – co-owned by Fortum and Uniper. The four reactors are integrated into a common decommissioning portfolio to create logistical and economic coordination benefits.
“This cooperation brings together complementary nuclear competencies, products and services from both Fortum and Uniper. As the projects in Sweden progress, the focus of the cooperation will shift to customers and together we will be able to utilise all learnings to support other nuclear power plants in their decommissioning phase”, explains Petra Lundström.
“Ending the lifecycle of Barsebäck 1 and 2 and Oskarshamn 1 and 2 in a safe and efficient manner is of outmost importance to us. Looking ahead and out into the European decommissioning market together with Fortum is a natural next step. It will also enable us to retain nuclear competence in each country and offer our nuclear experts long-term career and development opportunities. If we perform cost efficient decommissioning, we also give legitimacy for a new generation of nuclear power that support and is essential for efficient decarbonisation and energy transition,” concludes Johan Svenningsson.
Photo: Initially work will focus on Barsebäck 1&2 (pictured) and Oskarshamn 1&2 in Sweden