Damen Oskarshamnsvarvet Sweden has been awarded the contract to manufacture high-precision special steel tanks together with their integrated cassettes for OKG; operator of three nuclear reactors on Sweden’s Simpevarp peninsula. With two reactors due to be decommissioned and dismantled, the tanks will be used to store radioactive reactor parts as part of the disposal process, the company said in its press release.
While DAMEN Oskarshamnsvarvet Sweden is best known as one of the ship repair and conversion yards in the Baltic Sea, it has over many years built up a reputation as a niche fabricator of high quality steel structures of all kinds. Its certifications include ISO 3834-2, which defines the rigorous quality procedures for the fusion welding of metallic materials and represents the highest possible accolade in the welding industry. The yard also has a certified painting facility that was built in 2009 for a similar project.
Deliveries of the tanks to OKG will start in spring 2018 and will continue through to the end of the following year. The reactor parts will first be cut down to manageable sizes under a separate contract won by General Electric, before being interred in the tanks. Three different designs will be built at the yard to meet different needs. The majority will have walls 50mm in thickness, but others will have walls up to 100mm and 150mm across.
Flip van der Waal, Managing Director of DAMEN Oskarshamnsvarvet Sweden, commented, “We are very pleased to have won this contract. Our highly trained and experienced staff have built similar containers in the past for both OKG and the Forsmark nuclear power plant and waste repository, also intended for the intermediate storage of radioactive waste. We are confident that we will be able to meet the extremely high demands of our customer with regards to HSEQS which are subject to the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency and regard this contract as a confirmation of our technical and management capabilities. While our steel and painting facilities are optimised for precisely this type of project, we also continue to fabricate specialised steel structures for other industries including the automotive sector.
“This contract is a confirmation that we are on track with our plans to capitalise on our specialist steel fabrication capabilities while at the same time consolidating and building our position in the Baltic region as the leading ship repair and conversion yard,” he continued. “Following a difficult period for our industry we are now experiencing a positive upswing in the second half of 2017 and given the healthy order book for 2018 we are positive on the short and long-term prospects for the yard.”
Johan Dasht, CEO of OKG, added: “Damen Oskarshamnsvarvet Sweden not only had the most competitive offer, it also has proven experience in working with OKG on similar projects. In addition it gives me great satisfaction to be able to say that we have now signed with a supplier that is in such close proximity.” The OKG site and DAMEN Oskarshamnsvarvet Sweden are just 30 kilometres apart.
Ship repair and maintenance projects currently underway at the yard include the refit and repair of the 77-metre Ro-Ro ferry Castella for Trafikverket; the Swedish Transport Administration. DAMEN Oskarshamnsvarvet’s combination of a dedicated production hall for steel works and a separate painting shed – which is unique in the region – was a factor in the award of the Castella contract.