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	February 6, 1972
Operator(s)	OKG Aktiebolag
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 487 MW 1 x 627 MW 1 x 1,194 MW
Power generation information
Annual generation	15,736 GW·h
Net generation	389,797 GW·h
As of July 25, 2007

The Nuclear power station Oskarshamn is one of three active nuclear power stations in Sweden. The plant is about 30 kilometers 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 487 MW, Unit 2 627 MW, and Unit 3, the newest reactor block at the facility, has an installed output of 1,194 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 nuclear power plant. The incident related to a failure of diesel generators to automatically start up when required. Modifications were later made to all the plants to address the issue.^[1]

On May 21, 2008, according to the Norwegian newspaper article in Aftenposten, the Swedish Aftonbladet and the Swedish The Local paper, 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.

Both Unit 2 and 3 are currently undergoing power and security upgrades. Unit 3 is planned to become the most powerful BWR in the world at approximately 1450MWe. The maximal reached output so far is 1260 MWe. Due to the upgrade, the reactor has been on and off the grid with prolonged maintenance outages throughout 2010. ^[2] Unit 2 will be upgraded in several steps and will reach maximum capacity of thermal power 2,300 MW and 840 MWe in 2011.^[3]

See also

• Nuclear power in Sweden
• Template:Sweden nuke plant map

References

1. ^ "Forsmark under scrutiny". World Nuclear News. 2007-01-30. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=12800. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 
2. ^ http://www.okg.se/templates/NewsPage____1109.aspx
3. ^ "Approval for Oskarshamn 2 uprate". World Nuclear News. 2010-04-30. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Approval_for_Oskarshamn_2_uprate-3004105.html. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 

External links

• http://www.okg.se/