Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant

Three reactors powering Sweden

Forsmarks kärnkraftverk (Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant) is operated by Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB and consists of three boiling water reactors (BWR) designed by Swedish company ASEA-ATOM, now Westinghouse. The three units were commissioned in 1980, 1981 and 1985 and have a combined installed capacity of over 3,300 megawatts. In a normal year the plant supplies approximately one-fifth of Sweden's total electricity production.

A site with unique geological history

The plant is built on one of Sweden's oldest and most stable bedrock formations, a granite plateau shaped over 1.8 billion years. Cooling water is drawn from the Baltic Sea, and the plant's low profile on the horizon — without the large containment domes typical of pressurised-water reactors — has been a defining feature of the Forsmark coastline since the 1980s.

The 2006 incident and its consequences

On 25 July 2006, reactor F1 suffered a serious electrical failure causing two of four backup generators to fail. The reactor was safely shut down, but the event was classified INES level 2 and led to strengthened safety requirements across Europe.

A repository for 100,000 years

Forsmark has been chosen as the site for Sweden's final repository for spent nuclear fuel. High-level waste will be encapsulated in copper canisters surrounded by bentonite clay and deposited in rock 500 metres underground — the KBS-3 method. The Swedish government approved SKB's application in 2022. The repository must remain safe for at least 100,000 years.