Is Sweden Losing Its Nuclear Expertise?

Finland's top nuclear safety regulator thinks so:

In the view of Jukka Laaksonen, director-general of Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), recent reports of shutdowns of Swedish commercial nuclear reactors because of security problems suggest that there has been a "deterioration of expertise", in nuclear power in that country.

Laaksonen says that he sector no longer attracts gifted young people, ever since Sweden decided to give up nuclear powers. Experts in the field, who are actually quite skilful, have been recruited from various countries such as Vietnam and the former Soviet Union.

Speaking at an event launching the latest safety study on Finnish nuclear power plants on Thursday, Laaksonen said that Swedish officials are also losing touch.

He noted that things are different in Finland: more nuclear energy is being built, and the field interests gifted young people. At Lappeenranta Technical University alone, 200 students are studying it.

He also feels that Finnish officials are very much in touch with the situation. STUK has kept a tight rein on the builders of the new reactor at Olkiluoto. "We have maintained German expertise by training 1,000 experts from that country in connection with the Olkiluoto 3 project", Laaksonen said. The facility is being built by a German-French joint venture.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Environment, Energy, Politics, Sweden, Finland, Electricity

Comments

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog