Russia helps Sweden dismantle nuclear reactor vessel

Germany's engineering company NUKEM Technologies (part of Russia's Rosatom State Corporation), in cooperation with Uniper Anlagenservice, has successfully completed dismantling the nuclear reactor vessel of the first power unit of Barseback nuclear power plant in Sweden.

"The weight of the dismantled equipment totalled 430 tons. Initially, the reactor vessel was divided into rings with a height of 0.9 to 1.8 meters by thermal cutting. The weight of each section of the vessel was ranging from 12 to 24 tons. During the dismantling process, the reactor vessel was divided from top to bottom into 13 rings, as well as the lower part of the reactor," Rosatom's fuel company TVEL said.

In 2019, the UNNU Consortium created by NUKEM Technologies and Uniper Anlagenservice, won a tender for the works to dismantle two reactor vessels of Barsebek-1,2 NPP and two reactor vessels of Oskarshamn-1,2 NPP in Sweden. The dismantling process was carried out sequentially — first at Barseback NPP, and then at Oskarshamn NPP, which made it possible to reduce the total cost of decommissioning by optimizing technological processes and forming the unified material and technical basis for carrying out the works.

All the four units of the nuclear power plant in Sweden are to be dismantled completely in 2024.

TVEL is responsible for the development of Rosatom's business for the decommissioning of nuclear and hazardous radiation facilities.

Barseback is a decommissioned boiling water nuclear power plant situated in Barseback, Sweden.

The nuclear power plant is located 20 kilometers from the Danish capital, Copenhagen, which eventually made the Danish government strive for its closure during the entirety of its operating lifetime. As a result of a now former Swedish nuclear power phase-out, its two reactors have been closed down. The first reactor, Barseback 1, was closed November 30, 1999, and the second, Barseback 2, ceased operations May 31, 2005. At the time of closure, each reactor had a net capacity of 600 megawatts.