Decision Made Regarding Premature Shutdown of Units Oskarshamn 1 and Oskarshamn 2
At an extraordinary shareholders' meeting held today on 14 October 2015, OKG's majority owner E.ON upheld their policy decision on the premature shutdown of units Oskarshamn 1 (O1) and Oskarshamn 2 (O2). However, this decision does not affect OKG's largest reactor, Oskarshamn 3 (O3), which in the future will still be a central part of the stability of the Swedish electricity supply.
The decision is in agreement with the policy decision previously communicated by OKG's majority owner E.ON, and the decision entails that there will be no future investments at unit O2 and the reactor will not be restarted. The operation at unit O1 will proceed in accordance with the established plan, which means that a decision on shutdown will be made when the time schedule for the decommissioning phase has been prepared. The exact date when the unit will be permanently shut down is thus not yet established.
– This is naturally a tremendously sad decision for me as well as for our employees. Any immediate dismissal notices due to the decision on the shutdown are not considered necessary in the short term, but planning has been initiated regarding adjusting the organisation based on the conditions that we now have to adapt to. Such a process will obviously be handled in a responsible manner with focus on the safety, says Johan Svenningsson, Managing Director of OKG.
Unit Oskarshamn 3 is at present considered able to continue the production of climate-friendly electricity during its entire technical lifetime until the year of 2045, and OKG will thus still be one of the major employers in Oskarshamn.
– There will still be major development possibilities at OKG, particularly now when we will have three nuclear facilities in three entirely different phases of the life cycle. In order to have maximum safety in all situations, we need employees with special competence and qualifications, says Johan Svenningsson, MD of OKG.
The owner's decision is not based on safety related reasons, but it is rather made in the light of the continuously low electricity rates together with the nuclear capacity tax on nuclear power which has been recently raised as well, and additional requirements on extensive investments. Therefore, there are no prospects of generating financial profitability either in the short or the long term, neither for unit O1 nor for unit O2.
Press Conference in Oskarshamn
On account of the decision on premature shutdown of units O1 and O2, accredited press reporters are invited to a press conference this afternoon at 2.30 p.m. held at Attraktiva Oskarshamn's office located next to the Tourist Information on Hantverksgatan 3 in Oskarshamn, where it will be possible to put questions to the Managing Director of OKG, Johan Svenningsson.