Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant

Story

The Nuclear power station Oskarshamn is one of three active nuclear power stations in Sweden. The plant is about 30km 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 494 MW, Unit 2 664 MW, and Unit 3, the newest reactor block at the facility, has an installed output of 1,450 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.OperatorThe responsible utility is OKG, short for the Oskarshamnsverkets Kraftgrupp OKG, which was acquired by Sydkraft in 1993, (later: E.ON Sverige). Uniper owns 54.5% and the other partner Fortum 45.5% of OKG.HistoryOn 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 plant. The incident related to a failure of diesel generators to automatically start up when required, after a blackout caused by a shortcut at the grindgear sections at the plant. Modifications were later made to all the plants to address the issue.