Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Forsmark, Sweden, and also the site of the Swedish Final repository for radioactive operational waste. It is operated by a subsidiary of Vattenfall.

Forsmark Nuclear Reactors

Forsmark NPP has three Boiling water reactors:

  • F1 with an ABB Atom BWR 69 at 2928 MW thermal and 1010 MWe net was first connected to the grid on 5 June, 1980, and commenced commercial operation on 10 December, 1980. It has two turbo-alternators.
  • F2 with an ABB Atom BWR 69 at 2928 MW thermal and 1010 MWe net was first grid connected on 15 December, 1980 and commenced commercial operation on 7 July, 1981. It is a twin of Unit 1.
  • F3 with an ABB Atom BWR 75 at 3300 MW thermal and 1190 MWe net and was first grid connected on 3 March, 1985 and commenced commercial operation on 21 August, 1985. It is a later design with one turbo-alternator.

Other facilities

West of Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant, there is the static inverter of HVDC Fenno-Skan.

Nuclear Waste disposal

Forsmark is the proposed site for the long-term burial of all spent fuel from Swedish nuclear power reactors, using the KBS-3 process. The new site will be located next to the already existing final repository for radioactive operational waste, but the two will not be connected with each other.

April 1986

On April 27, 1986, unusually high levels of radiation were detected in workers' clothing at this plant, prompting concerns of a radiation leak. No leak was found, however, and the radiation was subsequently determined to have originated from Chernobyl, where a reactor had exploded the previous day. Chernobyl is approximately 1,100 km from this power plant.

Detection of rise of environmental radioactivity at Forsmark was crucial in leading Soviet authorities, originally attempting to cover up the disaster, to admit that a nuclear incident had taken place in Pripyat. This, in turn, was the immediate trigger for evacuation of Pripyat, which Soviets had considered unnecessary for more than 36 hours following the explosions.

July 2006 incident

On 25 July 2006, one reactor was shut down after an electrical fault. According to the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspection authority SKI the incident was rated 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. According to Lars-Olov Höglund, a former construction chief at Vattenfall, it is the most serious nuclear incident in the world since the Chernobyl disaster and it was pure luck that prevented a meltdown. Both the SKI and the safety chief of Forsmark power plant disagree with that opinion and state that the incident was serious but the description provided by Höglund was incorrect and there was no risk of a meltdown.

Lars-Olov Höglund has been involved in a personal legal dispute with Forsmark Nuclear powerplant for several years.

However, SKI also writes about the failing safety system in that finding out that safety functions proved to be linked together in a delicate way is extremely serious.

February 2007 shutdown

On February 3, two units at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant were shut down to inspect a rubber seal in one of the safety systems. On Forsmark 1 this seal needed to be replaced, a job that would take approximately one month. Unit 2 was cleared by the regulator SKI and was free to restart.

In January an internal report made by a few employees at Forsmark who were concerned over a "degrading safety culture" was leaked to media who ran an extensive story on it. In the storm following the report the Forsmark CEO chose to resign. Forsmark was already under way to implement a 60-point program designed to improve safety culture, designed shortly after the event in July 2006.

Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant
Country Sweden
Locale Forsmark
Coordinates 60°24′12″N 18°10′0″E / 60.40333°N 18.166667°E / 60.40333; 18.166667 / 60.40333; 18.166667
Status Operational
Commission date 1980
Operator(s) Vattenfall

Reactor information
Reactors operational 2 x 2928 MW
1 x 3300 MW
Reactor type(s) Boiling water reactor

Power generation information
Net generation 22300 GW·h