Facts of the project:
The Ågesta NPP was in operation between 1964 to 1974, the reactor was a PHWR and supplied district heating to the suburb Farsta in Stockholm. The owner Vattenfall started dismantling in 2020, and the project has now reached a major milestone when the clearance measurements project is in its final stages.
This means that there is no longer risk for radioactive contamination, and the last batch of contaminated personal protective equipment (PPE) such as coveralls can be returned.
PPE approach used:
In the decommissioning project, washable PPE has been used. The PPE is washed / decontaminated by UniTech. The resulting radioactive waste from washing / decontamination process is further treated in accordance with regulations. This approach minimizes the radioactive waste amounts and aligns with the best practices of personnel and environmental protection. For Vattenfall, who is striving for as little environmental impact as possible, this has been a good solution.
Learnings from the project:
The flexibility of a wide range of PPE from UniTech has been crucial for the decommissioning project.
Peter Erixon, Radiation Protection Officer for Ågesta site shares experiences from the project: “The staff is truly professional, and it was easy to start and to end the leasing of PPE. There has been good communication and quick responses and transfer of documentation for the transports.”
Lauri Pajunen, Key Account Manager for the Nordic and Baltic countries at UniTech continues: “The ease of adjusting the lease amounts of PPE up or down depending on the customer’s need is a key benefit of our lease program. Especially the sites under decommissioning benefit from this since the key is to stepwise shut down and reduce the local operations at the site, and the need and type of PPE varies depending on the phase of the project. We have also developed part of our PPE together with our customers. The blue FR coveralls have been developed together with many experts from the Swedish nuclear facilities”
“For Vattenfall, it has been a great advantage to not take care of laundry and store PPE, as that possibility didn’t exist at Ågesta site when the decommissioning started.” Peter Erixon concludes.
Next steps:
UniTech congratulates Ågesta team for achieving this major milestone and we are happy that we were able to support this project.
Lauri Pajunen: “UniTech is presently evaluating further increasing its presence and widening the service selection in the Nordic Countries and Baltic region. Hopefully, we will see some new SMRs or other new NPPs among our customers in the future”
Figure 2 The last shipment of protective equipment from Ågesta. Peter Erixon, Radiation Protection Officer at Ågesta (on left), responsible for Radiation Protection Group. On right, Oemgea’s qualified class 7 driver.