25 Apr (NucNet): The electrical capacity of the Ringhals-1 boiling water reactor unit in Sweden has been increased by 15 megawatts (MW).
Ringhals said the uprate had gone ahead on 20 April 2007 after approval from the Swedish nuclear power inspectorate (SKI).
SKI authorised an increase of the unit’s thermal capacity of 40 MW from the previous 2,500 MW thermal. Ringhals said the increase in electrical capacity would be about 15 MW, resulting in new electrical capacity of around 858 MW.
In October 2005, the Swedish government approved power uprates for units one and three at Ringhals, as well as the relicensing of unit two.
Sweden has 10 commercially operational reactor units. Total production in 2006 was 65 terawatt hours (TWh), down by 5 TWh from 2005.
The four-unit Ringhals plant achieved its second best production figure ever in 2006, generating a combined total of 27 TWh of electricity, despite difficulties connected with annual outages and a fire in a transformer at unit three in November 2006.
