nuclear

Located in the south of Sweden, 30km from Malmö, the Barsebäck plant features two ABB-designed boiling water reactors (BWR), each with a capacity of 615MW. The first reactor was closed on 30 November 1999 and the second reactor on 31 May 2005.

Under the contract, Westinghouse Electric will be responsible for segmenting the reactor pressure vessel internals at the dual-unit.

In particular, Westinghouse will dismantle, segment and package the reactor pressure vessel internals, which are the closest components to the reactor core.

For the contract, the company will utilize remotely controlled underwater mechanical cutting techniques as well as employ specifically designed equipment, which will be fabricate and test at its facilities in Västerås, Sweden.

Westinghouse Northern Europe vice-president and managing director Aziz Dag said: "This is a strategically important contract for Westinghouse."

The firm plans to commence contract work immediately while the mechanical segmentation wok will be carried out in 2016. The project is scheduled to be completed in next four years.

Westinghouse Europe, Middle East and Africa region president Yves Brachet said: "Westinghouse continues to invest, optimize and develop our tooling, processes and people using our global technology and experience to serve customers around the world."

The plant is operated by Barsebäck Kraft, unit of Ringhals, owned by Vattenfall and Sydkraft.

Earlier, Westinghouse was selected to dismantle Électricité de France’s Chooz nuclear power plant in France as well as Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos’ José Cabrera nuclear power station in Spain, and at EnKK’s Neckarwestheim unit 1.


Image: the Barsebäck nuclear power station is located in the south of Sweden. Photo: courtesy of Lars Bo Wassini/Wikipedia.