Forward planning for eventual Oskarshamn 1 closure
19 June 2015
OKG, the operator of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden, has applied for an environmental court ruling in preparation for the future decommissioning of unit 1. No shutdown date has yet been determined for the reactor.
.jpg "Oskarshamn 1 - 460 (OKG)") |
| Oskarshamn 1 (Image: OKG) |
As part of the requirements for decommissioning a nuclear power unit, an extensive environmental consequences description has been produced, OKG said in a statement yesterday. This has now been submitted to the Land and Environment Court in Växjö in order for the court to begin its review. OKG said it anticipates a court ruling on the closure in late 2016 or early 2017.
The company considers that with the submission of the document to the court, "an important milestone in the preparations for a shutdown has now been passed."
However, OKG stressed: "The time for the shutdown has not been established, but the purpose of the initiated preparations is to make it possible to carry out a shutdown in an organized and planned manner, once the decision is made."
OKG CEO Johan Svenningsson noted that the timing of the court ruling will have no connection to the shutdown of Oskarshamn 1. He said, "An environmental court ruling is, however, required in order to perform a shutdown, but such a decision is exclusively based on commercial grounds."
"After nearly 50 years of operation, the assessment is that the facility is gradually losing its competitiveness in relation to other kinds of production capacity," OKG said. "Under the current market forecasts, it has simply been concluded that it gradually will be harder for the unit to bear its own costs for future maintenance needs."
Oskarshamn 1 is a 473 MWe boiling water reactor which began operating in 1972.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News