Westinghouse Completes First Major Decommissioning Work at a Nordic Commercial Nuclear Reactor

Westinghouse Electric Company announced today that it has completed a major decommissioning project at the former Barsebäck nuclear power plant in Skåne, Sweden.

Barsebäck Unit 2 ceased operation in 2005 and decommissioning work began in August 2016. Westinghouse’s scope of work included the underwater segmentation and packaging of the reactor vessel internals, as well as the upfront engineering studies and equipment manufacturing and qualification.

“Westinghouse is proud to deliver this major decommissioning project on time and on budget,” said Yves Brachet, Westinghouse senior vice president, Global Decommissioning, Decontamination, Remediation and Waste Management. “Our global expertise in this area will help our customers in the Nordic region to safely manage a variety of end-of-life opportunities for commercial nuclear power plants.”

Leadership at Barsebäck Kraft AB (BKAB) is equally satisfied with this successful initial step of the first dismantling of a commercial nuclear power plant in Sweden. “The success of this project is a result of close cooperation and proves that the Swedish back–end system works as intended,” said Åsa Carlson, BKAB managing director.

Westinghouse is now due to begin decommissioning work on Barsebäck Unit 1, with an estimated completion date of April 2019.