Fortum, Uniper to co-operate in nuclear dismantling
Finnish state utility Fortum and its majority-owned German subsidiary Uniper have joined forces to sell decommissioning services to nuclear companies, they said September 7. They will focus first on two plants in Sweden and if that works well, they will expand further into Europe.
"If we perform cost efficient decommissioning, we also give legitimacy for a new generation of nuclear power that supports and is essential for efficient decarbonisation and the energy transition,” Uniper said.
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“Nuclear power plants around Europe are in different phases of the life cycle. At the same time, as new reactors are being planned and built, there are also plants that will be shut down and dismantled. Here we see attractive opportunities to create a joint service offering and our joint target is to become the market leader in nuclear decommissioning and dismantling in Europe,” said Uniper.
Fortum said Uniper has already had some experience of decommissioning and that Fortum will bring to the co-operation matching skills in waste and decommissioning. "In our nuclear services business we have served customers for many years already with excellent customer satisfaction results," it said.
The co-operation starts with the on-going decommissioning and dismantling of four reactors in Uniper's Swedish nuclear power fleet: Barseback units 1 and 2, and Oskarshamn units 1 and 2, the latter being jointly owned with Fortum. The four reactors are integrated into a common decommissioning portfolio to create logistical and economic co-ordination benefits.
When that is done, the companies will "look ahead and out into the European decommissioning market," Uniper said.