Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant

Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant

Oskarshamn NPP
Country Sweden
Coordinates 57°24′56″N 16°40′16″E / 57.41556°N 16.67111°E / 57.41556; 16.67111Coordinates: 57°24′56″N 16°40′16″E / 57.41556°N 16.67111°E / 57.41556; 16.67111
Construction began 1965
Commission date O1: February 6, 1972
O2: January 1, 1975
O3: August 15, 1985
Operator(s) OKG Aktiebolag
(E.ON 54.5%,
Fortum 45.5%)
Nuclear power station
Cooling source Kalmar Strait
Cooling towers no
Power generation
Units operational 1 × 494 MWe
1 × 664 MWe
1 × 1,450 MWe
Average generation 15,736 GWh
Oskarshamn reactor O1, O2 and O3.

The Nuclear power station Oskarshamn is one of three active nuclear power stations in Sweden. The plant is about 30 kilometers (19 mi) north of Oskarshamn, directly at the Kalmarsund at the Baltic Sea coast and with three reactors producing about 10% of the electricity needs of Sweden. All reactors use BWR technology.

Unit 1 has an installed output of 494 MW, Unit 2 664 MW, and Unit 3, the newest reactor block at the facility, has an installed output of 1,450 MW. The nuclear power station Oskarshamn is thereby one of the largest power stations in the Nordic area by production.

Clab, the temporary storage facility for spent nuclear fuel from all Swedish reactors, is also located at the site.

Operator

The responsible utility is OKG, short for the Oskarshamnsverkets Kraftgrupp OKG, which was acquired by Sydkraft in 1993, which is called E.ON Sverige currently. E.ON Sverige owns 54.5% and the other partner Fortum 45.5% of OKG.

History

On July 25, 2006, Units 1 and 2 were shut down as a precaution after a safety-related incident at an identical reactor at the Forsmark plant. The incident related to a failure of diesel generators to automatically start up when required, after a blackout caused by a shortcut at the grindgear sections at the plant. Modifications were later made to all the plants to address the issue.[1]

On May 21, 2008, a welder was caught on the entrance security check with trace elements of explosives on a carrier bag and his hand. The same evening Reactor 1 of the facility was shut down to allow bomb teams to sweep the facility. With police investigations ongoing, Kalmar police spokesperson Sven-Erik Karlsson confirmed to the TT news agency that a welder on his way in to the plant on Wednesday morning was caught with a relatively small amount of a highly explosive substance. The substance was later shown to be from nail polish and the event had no relevance to the operation of the plant or nuclear safety.[2][3][4]

Unit 2 is currently undergoing power and security upgrades. Unit 3 is after many upgrades the most powerful BWR in the world at approximately 1450 MWe. Due to the upgrade, the reactor has been on and off the grid with prolonged maintenance outages throughout 2010.[5] Unit 2 will be upgraded in several steps and will reach maximum capacity of thermal power 2,300 MW and 840 MWe in 2011.[6]

On September 30, 2013, a portion of the plant (the third reactor) was closed when a group of jellyfish clogged the cooling water intake pipes. It was not indicated as to whether the event had been classified as a safety disturbance yet, and to what level on the scale used for nuclear plants.[7]

On October 14, 2015, EOn announced on the planned permanent closure of Unit 1 and 2 for economic reasons. Unit 1 is scheduled for closure in 2017 and Unit 2 will not return into operation after the cancellation of the unfinished modernization.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Forsmark under scrutiny". World Nuclear News. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  2. ↑ Leknes, Knut H. (21 May 2008). "Bombefrykt tones ned". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Jersler, Titti (21 May 2008). "Två anhållna misstänkta för förberedelse av sabotage mot Oskarshamns kärnkraftverk". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Two arrests in nuke plant bomb plot". The Local. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "The Production Year 2010 – Production Records despite Setbacks". OKG. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Approval for Oskarshamn 2 uprate". World Nuclear News. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Gary Peach (2 October 2013). "Wave of jellyfish shuts down Swedish nuclear reactor". MSN News. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
  8. ↑ Researched and written by World Nuclear News (17 February 2016). "Oskarshamn 1 to shut next year". World Nuclear Association. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
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