Unit 2 of the Ringhals nuclear power plant in Sweden was yesterday permanently shut down, ending 44 years of operation and 215 TWh of generation. Ringhals 1 is scheduled to shut down next year.

The Mühleberg nuclear power plant in Switzerland today ended generation after 47 years in operation. Meanwhile, Ringhals unit 2 in Sweden and Philippsburg unit 2 in Germany are preparing to shut down by the end of 2019.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has completed the segmentation of the reactor internals of units 1 and 2 at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden, fulfilling a contract awarded by plant operator OKG AB in December 2016. Large-scale dismantling and demolition of the two boiling water reactors will begin next year.

As many as 78% of people surveyed in Sweden - up from 71% in 2017 - strongly support nuclear energy, 43% are open to the construction of new nuclear power plants, and 35% would like to continue using the country's reactors for their full operating lives, a survey by Novus and published by Analysgruppen shows. In contrast, only 11% of those polled are opposed to nuclear power.

The site of the former Ranstad uranium mine and processing facilities has been released from oversight under the Radiation Protection Act and the Nuclear Technology Act by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority. The site, which already hosts an industrial park, is now free for any use.

The expansion of Sweden's existing SFR repository for low and intermediate-level waste at Forsmark has been approved by the Land and Environment Court in Stockholm. With approval already granted by the nuclear regulator, the government will now make a final decision on the application.

Australia's Aura Energy has lodged a claim against the Swedish government for compensation for the financial loss resulting from a ban on uranium exploration and mining, introduced in August 2018. The company had planned to extract uranium as a by-product from its 100%-owned Häggån polymetallic project in Sweden.

EDF subsidiary Cyclife Sweden AB has signed an eight-year contract with Uniper for the treatment and recycling of contaminated metal generated through the decommissioning of Oskarshamn 1 and 2 and Barsebäck 1 and 2. Uniper has a common strategy for dismantling and demolishing the units, which were shut down between 1999 and 2017.

Units 1 and 2 of the Forsmark nuclear power plant can be operated safely for a further 10 years, until 2028, taking them beyond their initial 40-year planned operation, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority said yesterday.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts yesterday completed a review of long-term operational safety at units 1 and 2 of Sweden's Forsmark nuclear power plant. The team assessed the plant's preparedness, organisation and programmes related to long-term operation against IAEA safety standards.

The first eight Westinghouse Triton11 fuel assemblies have been delivered to Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy's Olkiluoto plant. The new assemblies will be loaded into Olkiluoto 2 during the unit's upcoming outage.

The Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) of the Netherlands has completed the irradiation testing in the High Flux Reactor of a new type of metal that will be used in a test programme of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.