R&D: Nuclear power development

Major investments have been made or will be undertaken in all our nuclear power plants in order to modernise them. Such investments are made to improve safety, reduce environmental impact, and increase the capacity. We conduct research and development to support these investments.

Our R&D is focused on our equipment, in order to ensure that we can be able to operate our plants for years to come, with assured safety.

Vattenfall is a majority owner of seven reactors, at Forsmark and Ringhals, in Sweden and has also majority ownership in two nuclear power plants in Germany (Brunsbüttel and Krümmel).

Safe operations and improvements in efficiency

Vattenfall’s R&D activities within the Nuclear Power area are devoted to operational support and the promotion of the safe operation of our nuclear power plants. Issues addressed by operational support include: risk analyses, accident management, analytical analysis methods, ageing and degradation of system structures, components, manufacturing technologies, low and medium radioactive waste handling, maintenance methods, water chemistry issues, and nuclear fuel behaviours and core physics.

Another area of our R&D activities is the investigation of issues that are of general interest to Vattenfall, as an owner and operator of several nuclear power plants. These activities include computational fluid dynamics methodology enhancement, replacement material qualification, and utility requirements for the replacement of building parts. These efforts are aimed at supporting safety-enhancing modernisation and improvements in efficiency.