Sweden needs 2 GW more power imports after an interruption in the largest reactor
OSLO, 11 February (Reuters) – Sweden must import 2 gigawatts (GW) of extra electricity, more than consumption in the capital Stockholm, to balance an unforeseen interruption in its largest nuclear power plant from 19 February, grid operator Svenska kraftnaet (Svk) said on Friday .
Earlier this week, the plant operator Uniper said that it will take the Oskarshamn 3 reactor offline between 19 February and 27 February to rectify a secondary fuel failure.
The reactor, located in southeastern Sweden, has a capacity of 1.4 GW, which roughly corresponds to Stockholm’s demand of 1.5 GW, said Svk.
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The unplanned shutdown will not only reduce supply in southern Sweden but also limit internal power flows from north to south, which increases the total need for power imports from abroad, it added.
Svk said that they did not anticipate any capacity decline if the weather remained relatively mild, as it has been so far this winter.
“But since production is lacking, it will have a price impact,” says Svk’s operations manager Pontus de Mare in a statement.
Sweden is already struggling with internal bottlenecks in power transmission, as the closure of nuclear power plants in recent years has reduced production capacity in the south, while wind power has increased production in the north. Read more
Uniper said on Wednesday that they first discovered the fuel problems on November 15 last year and that repairs would originally take place as part of the annual maintenance scheduled for April 18, but had now decided to fix the fault separately.
“Fuel damage can occur when particles accidentally end up in the reactor pool’s process water where the fuel elements are stored. A small particle can rub holes in the fuel casing and cause leakage,” says Uniper.
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Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik
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