Cyclife Sweden, part of EDF Group’s decommissioning and waste management subsidiary, said on 17 May that it had been awarded a long-term contract for the transport and treatment of 16 steam generators from the German nuclear operator PreussenElektra. These will be transported to Sweden from their operation sites in Germany (the Unterweser, Grafenrheinfeld, Grohnde and Brokdorf NPPs) to be further processed in the melting facility of Cyclife Sweden. Cyclife Sweden is also in charge of the return transport of secondary waste to Germany, ensuring full compliance with local rules and regulations.
This contract is a big step forward for the Swedish enterprise, which was acquired by the EDF Group in 2016. “It confirms the dynamism of the waste treatment market at the international level, following other long-term contracts recently signed by Cyclife Sweden with nuclear operators in Italy and Sweden.”
The treatment of steam generators is the core business of Cyclife Sweden, which has been developing a unique expertise over the years. Cyclife Sweden confirmed “its strong commitment and involvement to support the German nuclear market with turn-key solutions”.
This contract followed an earlier one from PreussenElektra in November 2020 to dismantle the 16 steam generators. Cyclife, with its subcontractor Framatome GmbH, will remove the components from the different reactor buildings and make them fully available for shipment and external treatment. Cyclife Engineering, the subsidiary of Cyclife created in 2019, will be in charge of detailed design studies.
“By combining this first success in the German decommissioning market to its historical and unique waste treatment capabilities, Cyclife is bringing forward the interest of the ‘Rip&Ship’ model and of the waste-led decommissioning approach to handle large components in the decommissioning phase while securing the overall planning of dismantling operations. The study phase for decommissioning operations has already started for the Unterweser NPP in the north of Germany and the first shipment of steam generators to Sweden is planned for the second quarter of 2023.
Image: Cyclife’s metal recycling facility in Sweden (Photo credit: Cyclife)
