"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."
Studsvik and Italy's SOGIN has signed a contract for the treatment and conditioning of organic low-level waste. The order value is estimated at around SEK 73 million.
"With the order from SOGIN Studsvik takes a first step into the Italian market. The order shows Studsvik's opportunities in the renaissance that the global nuclear power industry is undergoing," says Studsvik's CEO Magnus Groth.
The order concerns the treatment of approximately 270 tonnes of organic low-level waste from the Italian nuclear site Caorso at Studsvik's facility in Sweden.
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.
Waste Control Specialists will start ushering in low-level radio active waste for storage at it's new dump site outside of Andrews County this week.
They'll begin storing shipments of waste from Studsvik, Incorporated out of Tennessee.
According to Waste Control Specialists (wcs), studsvik processes low-level radio active waste into a safer form for interim storage.
WCS has handled radio active waste since 1997 but received a low-level radio active waste disposal license from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (tceq) this year.
Waste Control Specialists LLC said Tuesday that it will begin storing low-level radioactive waste from Studsvik Inc., an Erwin, Tenn.-based waste processor.
Interim storage at WCS' facility in Andrews County of this thermally processed Class B and Class C low-level radioactive waste will greatly reduce the risk and administrative burden of generators when compared to the use of multiple storage facilities across the United States, a news release said.
"Studsvik provides a valuable national service because its process transforms the low-level radioactive waste into a safer form for storage and ultimate disposal. At the same time, Studsvik's processing reduces the volume of low-level radioactive waste by more than 80 percent, which allows for the efficient use of valuable landfill space," WCS President Rod Baltzer said. "WCS is proud to participate in this innovative program to increase the safety and to reduce the volume of low-level radioactive waste."
"We are now confronting the problems of nuclear power - the waste generated and the radioactivity of the reactor generators that need to be "decommissioned." Bruce Power will pay Studsvik $1 million for each of the planned 17 generators to be "cleansed" in Sweden.
Normally an intelligent country, Sweden is embarking on a process that will harm its workers and proliferate the material throughout its industries. Of course the ship may not run into trouble on its journey through the Great Lakes and across the Atlantic. Retrieving the behemoth from the bottom of the Atlantic would be difficult. It would probably be left there along with the sunken nuclear submarines corroding away."
AN UNPRECEDENTED plan to export radioactive waste from old nuclear submarines in Scotland to Sweden is coming under fire from local authorities worried about accidents and pollution.
The naval dockyard at Rosyth in Fife has applied for permission to ship metal contaminated with radioactivity to a smelter near Nyköping in Sweden, run by the nuclear waste company Studsvik.
The plan is for the metal, from the decommissioning of seven defunct submarines laid up at Rosyth, to be melted, decontaminated and reused.
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.
"A Tennessee company that processes nuclear waste has agreed to settle federal claims black employees were subjected to higher levels of radiation than others.
The Studsvik Memphis Processing Facility, formerly known as Radiological Assistance Consulting and Engineering, or RACE, has signed a consent agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. Under the agreement, 23 black employees are to receive a total of $650,000.
The EEOC alleged the company assigned black employees to work with radioactive waste and manipulated dosimeters to show lower levels of radiation than the actual ones. Black employees were also paid less and subjected to other kinds of discrimination."
"SEAWAY CARGO: Canadian plant awaits OK for its shipping plan
By JAEGUN LEE
TIMES STAFF WRITER
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010
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A Canadian nuclear power station is planning to ship 16 decommissioned radioactive steam generators through the St. Lawrence Seaway this September.
And although the company's application is pending the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's approval, the idea of having nuclear waste traveling on Lake Huron, through the Welland Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway is raising concerns among the region's environmental groups.
"Do we have the capability to handle a nuclear accident? I'm not sure if we're prepared for it," said Jennifer J. Caddick, executive director of Save the River, Clayton. "But the bigger issue here is transparency. There are a ton of questions that need to be answered.""
"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. "
The 1000 Islands could be at risk when radioactive nuclear waste is shipped through the region in September, says Senator Bob Runciman.
In an interview Friday, Runciman said radioactive metal from the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station will be transported on aging ships on a river that this year has very low water levels.
The shipment could be especially dangerous in the narrow passages of the 1000 Islands region west of Brockville, he added.
"My main concern is essentially that we have had two groundings (of ships) in the past two weeks, one in our area and one in the Quebec area, and the lake fleet is an aging fleet, with an average age of 40," the senator explained.
"Both of the breakdowns in the last couple of weeks have been attributed to mechanical failure."
He also said St. Lawrence River water levels remain low, which creates a greater danger when the 1,800 tonnes of nuclear material from radioactive steam generators is transported through the "
"Bruce Power is seeking a licence from the Nuclear Safety Commission to transport 1760 tonnes of radioactive steel through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, passing Cornwall Ontario, on its way overseas. If this plan is approved the 16 used steam generators are going to be shipped to Sweden going through both Canadian and American waters.
The transportation of radioactive materials through Canadian waters has some citizens and politicians concerned. Mike Bradley (the Mayor of Sarnia) and Elizabeth May (leader of the Green Party) are both critical of the plan. If the shipment is approved it would set a precedent for transporting radioactive materials through the Great Lakes, and it could create a rubber stamp for these kinds of shipments in the future without public notice or approval.
Although a disaster is unlikely, according to environmentalists, a disaster could be truly devastating. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River represent 20% of the worlds fresh drinking water, drinking water for more than 40 million people. Supporters of Nuclear Energy claim that even if there was a disaster, the damage would be minimal."