Vattenfall to Upgrade Safety at Forsmark Nuclear Reactors

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Vattenfall has agreed to invest in modernising the safety systems at three nuclear reactors in Sweden in order to allow them to operate beyond 2020.

The move comes hot on the heels of the Swedish government's decision to revive its old nuclear power fleet by allowing for the construction of up to 10 new reactors in its energy plan. Vattenfall said the government's favourable view on future nuclear power and its decision to phase out a controversial nuclear tax were instrumental in its decision to invest. For additional information, see June 20, 2016, article--Sweden Opts For New Nuclear Power.

The company will invest in adding independent core cooling at Forsmark's three nuclear reactors, which will take several years and is not expected to impact energy production. The security upgrade is a requirement from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority to enable continued operations after 2020. Nuclear power accounts for 40% of the country's total electricity demand, which is supplied by nine operational reactors at three plants: Ringhals, Forsmark and Oskarshamn.

"Following the decision to phase out the nuclear capacity tax as announced in the energy agreement, Vattenfall's Board of Directors today decided on necessary safety investments," said Torbjörn Wahlborg, head of Vattenfall Generation and chairman of Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB. "The security upgrades will be implemented in parallel with a programme for cost and efficiency improvements with the goal to meet competitive market conditions. Following this upgrade, the reactors will be able to generate electricity into the 2040s."

Last week, Vattenfall Chief Executive Officer Magnus Hall described the importance of scrapping the tax. "One prerequisite for us being able to take any sort of position at all on whether to continue investing in nuclear power, including the measures to improve safety in independent core cooling, which can't actually be recouped in any other way than through being able to run the reactors, was that the nuclear power tax would be removed."

The company said that a decision on implementing independent core cooling at two reactors at the Ringhals power plant will be made early next year.

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