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"Studsvik of Sweden has signed a contract with Finland's Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) for the dismantling and metal recycling of old steam generators from the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. Studsvik-steam generator A steam generator for treatment at Studsvik (Image: Studsvik) Studsvik's facility near Nyköping, Sweden, melts metal scrap, such as stainless steel, carbon steel, copper, aluminium or lead. Melting reduces the volume and weight of the waste, resulting in reduced costs for interim on-site storage and final disposal. The end-product is metal ingots, which can either be immediately free-released as conventional scrap metal or released after a period of decay storage. Residual products (slag, sorted material, cutting and blasting residues and dust from the ventilation filters) and ingots that cannot be free-released are returned to the customer."

The UK's 'first' nuclear scrap metal recycling plant has opened in Lilyhall, West Cumbria. Opened by Swedish decommissioning service provider Studsvik, the plant was opened on 6 May and should be actively commissioning from mid-July. Furthermore, it is the first site to be granted a nuclear license in 20 years. Studsvik UK president Mark Lyons said: "We were given the license because there was an obvious need for this plant. Before, the metal would just be disposed of at the Low Level Repository in Drigg but now it can be cleaned up to be used as normal scrap metal." The plant deals with low-level radioactive metal ranging from structural material to pipe work, which comes from any site in the nuclear industry. At the plant the metal is cut down to a specific size in order to be treated effectively. A grip-blasting technique removes the surface of the metal to decommission the metal.

A controversial £6 million nuclear recycling plant near Workington will be officially opened today. Studsvik UK's Metal Recycling Facility (MRF) at Lillyhall will decontaminate scrap metal from the nuclear industry for further use in industry. It is the first plant of its kind to open in the UK and the first new nuclear site licence to be granted in two decades. Phil Davies, of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Malcolm Smith of nuclear firm Babcock Marine will cut the ribbon.

"Municipal leaders deserve a say in whether radioactive recyclables are ferried through the Welland Canal, says the mayor of St. Catharines. The Bruce Nuclear Generating Station has asked for a licence to ship "low-level" radioactive generators from Lake Huron, through the Welland Canal and the rest of the St. Lawrence Seaway to a recycling plant in Sweden. Each of the 16 bus-sized steam generators contains steel that can be decontaminated and reused, according to Bruce Power officials, but about 10% of the material is thought to be too radioactive to recycle and will be returned to the Lake Huron facility for storage. "