Westinghouse Electric to dismantle Barsebäck nuclear power plant

Located just 20 kilometers from Copenhagen, the plant ceased operation already in 2005

Lucie Rychla

Nov 6, 2015

Westinghouse Electric Company has been hired to dismantle the Barsebäck nuclear power plant, located just 20 km from Copenhagen in Skåne, Sweden.

Demolition of the plant’s inner reactor tanks will begin next summer and is expected to take four years, reported Ingeniøren.

According to Westinghouse, the company will dismantle, segment and package the reactor pressure vessel internals for final disposal – a process that significantly reduces the radioactivity remaining in the plant since it was shut down.

No more nuclear energy
Barsebäck is a boiling water nuclear power plant with two units, which began commercial operation in May 1975 and June 1977.

Barsebäck Unit One was shut down in 1999, 17 years before its planned life expectancy, and Barsebäck Unit Two ceased operation in May 2005.

In 1980, the Swedish parliament decided not to build any new nuclear power plants in the country and to phase out existing plants by 2010, following a referendum that took place after the Three Mile Island incident in Pennsylvania.

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