Right at the top of the reactor building at Oskarshamn 3 there is a Remotus system. It serves amongst other things to lift the lid off the reactor containment and also the lid off the reactor tank. The fuel is changed once a year in this fashion. The Remotus is also used to move the 80-tonne conveyor container used to remove the spent nuclear fuel.
Safety at the plant is rigorous. Both as regards nuclear technology and physical protection. “There are multiple safety systems which are independent of each other. It’s rather like braces as well as a belt”, recounts Jan Petrini, deputy information chief at OKG. “The staff responsible for operation are highly experienced and very well trained”.
“Even if the probability is very low for the worse imaginable scenario, a melt-down, we have to bear in mind that it could happen. That’s why all Swedish nuclear power stations have a filter plant to protect the environment from any radio-active effluent. The requirement is that 99.9% of radio-active substances which might be released on melt-down will remain inside the plant”.
“As to physical protection, it’s about preventing e.g. a terrorist getting in and causing damage. So we have barriers here too which you have to pass through in such cases”, Jan Petrini concludes.