SWEDEN | COVER STORY


Cutting edge achievement at Ågesta


By using proven equipment and technology it has been possible to develop an innovative technical solution which has enabled the in-situ segmentation and packaging of 27 control rods from Sweden’s Ågesta nuclear power plant


+24,000m


+18,450m


+15,300m


+13,100m Pos 3 Pos 1 Pos 2 Above: Control rod segmentation rig


THE ÅGESTA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT was Sweden’s first commercial reactor and was part of the Swedish reactor development programme in the 1960s. The reactor is located in an underground rock cavern, close to Stockholm. It is heavy water cooled and moderated pressurised vessel reactor, which was used for electricity production and district heating. It was in operation between 1964 and 1974, with a peak output of 80MWt and 12MWe. Since 1974, Ågesta has been in ‘care and maintenance’.


Fuel and heavy water were removed from the site in the 1970s. The decommissioning plan is to dismantle the radioactive portions of the plant over 3-6 years. New systems, including lighting and ventilation, and


new equipment were installed prior to the start of decommissioning and dismantling, which commenced in summer 2020. The first large items to be demolished and disposed of were the loading machine and the heavy water tanks of which approximately 80 per cent was cleared, sent for melting at an external facility and recycled. Among the components left in storage positions after permanent shutdown of the Ågesta reactor were 27 coarse control rods. Previous decommissioning studies did not consider the technical complexity, cost or time of managing these components in detail. Dealing with these coarse control rods was the third large decommissioning project to be carried out. U


www.neimagazine.com | February 2022 | 33


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