Annual maintenance outages in 2008 are expected to provide an opportunity for Vattenfall to change rubber containment seals at Ringhals unit 1, which is similar to Forsmark 1 – the unit forced to close after one of its containment seals was found to be degraded.
Comments attributed to Hans von Uthmann, senior executive vice president for
Vattenfall Nordic, suggest that seals at Forsmark-2 will also be changed during an annual outage. Forsmark 2 was recently allowed to restart by Swedish nuclear regulatory authority the SKI after Vattenfall switched it offline as a precaution after discovery of the fault on it sister unit. Lars Skaanberg, head of Reactor Technology and Structural Integrity at the SKI said that the seals at Forsmark 1 will have to be replaced eventually as they too will degrade.
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