A MAGAZINE FROM THE STUDSVIK GROUP
#1.2012
Securing
Asia’s rising
energy
needs
LEACHING EXPERIMENTS
UNDERSTANDING THE REALITIES
OF FINAL REPOSITORIES
DECOMMISSIONING EFFORTS
LOGISTICS OF TREATING AND RECYCLING
BERKELEY’S MASSIVE BOILERS
A chat with the new CEO
AM01_cover.indd 1
2012-04-20 09:51:16
Editorial
Bright future ahead
T
04 Nuclear energy booming in Asia
With growing energy needs and rising
populations, China and India are
planning to significantly expand their
nuclear power programs.
06 Cross-border partnership
Nuclear fuel supplier JSC TVEL and
Studsvik have teamed up to capitalize
on opportunities in Russia.
07 Recycling...big time!
With Studvik’s help, the Berkeley
nuclear power plant will recycle its
massive boilers.
09 Technology
Studvik has conducted leaching
experiments for 30 years to get a better
understanding of waste and repositories.
11 Views from the top
New Studsvik CEO Anders Jackson shares
his opinions on nuclear power’s future and
Studsvik’s potential as a global player.
PHOTO: FOLIO
here is no question about it: The world needs more
electricity. A lot of this much-needed energy resource
will be generated in nuclear power plants. This is not
just my personal opinion. International organizations
such as the IAEA, European Commission and World
Nuclear Association forecast that nuclear power generation will
increase. Even if their respective figures range between 500 and 900
gigawatts of installed power by 2030, these figures represent a huge
leap up from the slightly less than 380 gigawatts today.
Where does the demand come from? The obvious answer is that
there are a growing number of people in the world, and all of us are
using more and more electricity. There are also new technical applications of increased importance, such as sea water desalination
processes, which need a lot of energy – not to mention the steep rise
in consumption that will be created by further electrification of the
transportation sector. These developments take place in parallel with
growing resistance towards CO2-emitting fossil energy, with its negative impact on the climate, in combination with continually increasing
prices. Renewable energy from wind and solar power plants will certainly be an important contributor to solving this problem, but it is far
from enough. That is why low CO2-emitting, safe and cheap nuclear
power will inevitably play an increasingly important
role in the future.
At the same time, most of the existing nuclear
power plants were built 20 to 40 years ago. I don’t
think it is possible, or even acceptable, to keep
all of them in operation until 2030. The result
will be a growing nuclear market with three
large sectors: operation, decommissioning
of old plants and construction of new ones.
Studsvik has the ambition and know-how to
contribute positively to all three.
Anders Jackson, CEO
Contents #1.2012
04
07
11
Innova is published by the Studsvik Group to share information about its business and the
international nuclear industry.
Editor-in chief: Jerry Ericsson, Studsvik Editor: Eva-Lena Lindgren, Studsvik email: studsvik@studsvik.se
Address: Studsvik AB, P.O. Box 556, SE-611 10 Nyköping Managing editor: Petra Lodén, Appelberg
Art director: Karin Söderlind, Appelberg Layout: Madeleine Gröndahl, Appelberg Printing: Österbergs
Cover photo: Getty Images (photomontage).
www.studsvik.com
2 Innova [1:2012]
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Global News
OECD Workshop
Over April 17–19, an international
workshop on radiological characteri­
zation for decommissioning and dis­
mantling was arranged at Studsvik’s
office in Sweden. The workshop is
part of a Working Party on Decom­
missioning and Dismantling (WPDD)
project within OECD/NEA called
“Strategies for Radiological Char­
acterization in Decommissioning of
Nuclear Facilities” and was attended
by more than 100 people who partici­
pated in some 30 presentations and
poster sessions.
Along with OECD/NEA, the Swedish
Radiation Safety Authority (SSM),
SKB (Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste
Management Company), SVAFO and
Studsvik participated in organizing
the event. Studsvik’s Arne Larsson,
chairman for the strategy project, and
Anders Appelgren, project coordina­
tor, were very pleased with the turnout.
“It is very
important for
the parties
involved to
make new
contacts.”
Anders Appelgren
1,280
“It is very important for the parties in­
volved to make new contacts, exchange
information and experiences, listen
to new ideas and be able to network in
order to reach the best possible con­
sensus for current and future decom­
missioning projects,” says Appelgren.
The workshop comprised the follow­
ing five sessions about general decom­
missioning: characterization of materi­
als and systems; characterization of land
and groundwater; characterization of
rooms and buildings; quality assurance
and logistics; and the poster session. Af­
ter every session, a fruitful and interest­
ing group discussion was held.
“The workshop provided important
input for the WPDD project’s goal of
developing a strategy report about
radiological mapping in conjunction
with the decommissioning of nuclear
facilities,” says Larsson.
The workshop was concluded with a
visit to some of Studsvik’s facilities.
Peer review
of stress tests
Shortly after the final national reports
on nuclear plant safety (the stress
tests) became available at the end of
2011, a peer review process began. The
specifications of these peer reviews
were agreed upon by the European
Nuclear Safety Regulator Group
(ENSREG) and in line with a focus on
transparency, the results were made
public. The first public meeting was held
in Brussels, Belgium, in January 2012.
The stress tests were in response to
the accident at Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant in Japan and assess
whether nuclear power
plants can withstand the
effects of natural disasters
and man-made failures
and actions. All
reports, including
national reports and
peer reviews, are or
will be available here:
www.ensreg.eu.
Calendar
… gigawatts of electricity will
be needed to meet the global projected
electricity demands in 2050, a 236% increase from today’s 380 gigawatts.
Source: Linear extrapolation data of WETO and WNA forecasts for 2030.
May 22–24
Jahrestagung Kerntechnik (annual
nuclear technology meeting),
Stuttgart, Germany
May 28–June 1
The 20th WiN Global Congress
in Kalmar, Sweden
WM 2012
Phoenix Convention Center.
In February 2012, the annual Waste
Management (WM) Conference was held
in Phoenix, Arizona, presented by WM
Symposia (WMS). During the confer­
ence discussions were held about the safe
management and disposition of radio­
active waste and radioactive materials.
WM 2012 also included presentations and
papers describing research, development
and operational experience in the area.
The next conference will be held on Feb­
ruary 24–28, 2013. For more information
go to www.wmsym.org.
June 12–14
16th SCIP meeting, Studsvik,
Nyköping, Sweden
June 19-21
EPRI International Low Level Waste
Conference, Tucson, Arizona
August 5–11
7th International Youth Nuclear
Congress (IYNC 2012), Charlotte,
North Carolina
October
Naturally Occurring Radioactive
Material (NORM) Conference,
London, U.K.
[1:2012] Innova 3
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The Asian
Demand for affordable energy is growing worldwide. In Asia
this demand is being met by investments in nuclear power.
China is leading the push, and India is not far behind.
text Susanna Lindgren · photo Istockphoto
4 Innova [1:2012]
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Outlook
n equation
Before the Fukushima accident
in Japan in March 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) predicted that nuclear capacity
in the Western world would expand.
Following the events at Fukushima,
however, many governments, especially in Europe, have scaled down or postponed expansion plans. In Asia it is a
different story. The World Nuclear
Association reports that of the 60 or so
reactors under construction worldwide, two-thirds are being built in
Asia, with China and India actively
expanding their nuclear energy
capabilities.
China is well into its nuclear energy
expansion program, with 26 reactors
under construction and as many as 37
in the pipeline for the coming years.
“For us at Studsvik Scandpower, new
reactors mean new business opportunities,” says Arthur DiGiovine, Vice
President Marketing and Business Development, whose unit recently signed
its first major contract in China. The
agreement with the China Institute
of Atomic Energy (CIAE) on software
sales is valued at about MUSD 0.9.
China had begun work on a nuclear
security program even before the events
at Fukushima, and although it temporarily halted nuclear expansion for a
safety review following the disaster,
“stopping construction was never really
on the agenda,” says Ulf Andréasson,
working for the Swedish Agency for
Growth Policy Analysis as Counselor of
Science and Innovation at the Embassy
of Sweden in Beijing. He explains that
“because China is the most populous
country in the world, with an annual
economic growth rate of 8 percent, it
requires a secure supply of energy.”
Coal was the major source of energy
during China’s industrial development and still accounts for two-thirds
of its energy consumption. As a result
China is the world’s largest emitter of
greenhouse gases. Says Andréasson:
“Besides the impact coal has on the climate, it is also important for Chinese
foreign policy to find paths away from
the dependence on fossil fuels.”
To that end, he says, China has
expansion plans for all non-coal
energy production methods, including
gas, wind power and nuclear energy.
Currently, nuclear energy accounts
for only a small part of the total energy
generation in China, with 13 reactors
and a generating capacity of 13 GW.
“The aim for 2020 is to have 40 GW,
which will produce 6 percent of the
country’s total energy generation,”
Andréasson says. “To achieve this,
China wants to have state-of-the-art
technology and is inviting companies
such as Westinghouse and Areva to construct nuclear power plants in exchange
for access to technical know-how.”
The situation in India is similar.
Like China, India has a huge population and a fast-growing economy,
factors that are putting pressure on the
government to secure an energy supply without increasing the discharge of
greenhouse gases. Indian authorities
estimate that some 600 million people
in India – more than the entire population of the European Union – are still
without access to electricity.
India has 19 nuclear reactors in operation and six new reactors are under
Ulf Andréasson,
analyst at the Swedish
Agency for Growth
Policy Analysis.

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Outlook

construction, following the lifting of a
34-year ban on trade in nuclear plants
and materials in 2008. Plans for an additional 18 reactors are under way.
“Nuclear power is still very competitive price-wise for countries that want
to industrialize,” DiGiovine explains.
“In terms of spending money to build
up the energy supply, Asia is like no
other market in the world.” He sees
India and China as the two primary
Asian markets for the company’s
software, which is used for fuel cycle
management.
DiGiovine predicts that the booming Asian market will open many
more new business opportunities for
him and his colleagues. “We have been
doing this for many years,” he says.
“Through our extensive experience
base of having our software products
applied to more than 220 reactors,
we have established ourselves on the
international market. Our software is
well tested and validated, more than
any other in the world. It is remarkable to go to new countries like China
and India and find that they already
know Studsvik as a world-class
brand.” 
Country
“ The aim
for 2020
is to have
40 GW,
which will
produce 6
percent of
the country’s total
energy generation..”
Ulf Andréasson
 China and India
are far and away the
leaders of planned
and proposed
reactors in Asia.
Under
construction
0
0
0
2
2
Planned Proposed
Total
China
13
26
37
120
196
India
19
6
18
40
83
Indonesia
0
0
2
4
6
Iran
0
1
2
1
4
Japan
55
2
12
1
70
Jordan
0
0
1
0
1
Korea, North
0
0
0
1
1
Korea, South
20
6
6
0
32
Malaysia
0
0
0
1
1
Pakistan
2
1
2
1
7
Thailand
0
0
2
5
7
Turkey
0
0
4
4
8
UAE
0
0
4
10
14
Vietnam
0
0
2
12
14
Taiwan
6
2
0
1
9
Asia total
115
44
92
203
455
World total
447
65
143
332
987
(26 %)
(68 %)
(64 %)
(61 %)
(46 %)
Asia’s fraction
of world total
With the help of software and
other services from Studsvik,
Russia plans to nearly double its
nuclear energy output by 2020.
Russia is investing heavily in nu-
Operational
Bangladesh
Getting
market-ready
SOURCE: KIM BYUNG-KOO (2011). NUCLEAR SILK ROAD. LEXINGTON, KY, UNITED STATES: CREATSSPACE. P 190-192.
clear energy production. Currently, 10
new reactors are under construction
and plans for 14 additional reactors,
some of which will replace older ones,
are under way. According to figures
from the World Nuclear Association,
Russia is expected to have the 10 new
reactors, totalling at least 9.8 GW, in
operation by 2016. The additional reactors are scheduled to be operational
by 2020, increasing the current 21.7
GW nuclear power capacity to 43 GW.
Studsvik Scandpower recently
signed a contract with the Russian
nuclear fuel producer JSC TVEL to
deliver software and certain related
services worth $1 million in 2012. JSC
TVEL already collaborates closely
with Studsvik on the international
SCIP-II project on justification of fuel
behaviour. The sale, however, is an
important step in Studsvik’s broadening of its customer base within the
software area. JSC TVEL plans to expand in the
area of fuel supply as well. Of the approximately 440 reactors in the world,
350 are either pressurized water reactors (PWRs) or boiling water reactors
(BWRs). PWRs are the most common
type of electricity-generating nuclear
reactor and constitute a majority of
all plants in the West. Russia however builds VVER (from the Russian
vodo-vodyanoi energetichesky reactor)
plants that use hexagonal fuel elements produced in Russia.
But JSC TVEL has advanced
plans to build fuel elements for the
Western PWR market and recognizes
Studsvik’s products as highly reliable
in supporting that expansion, says
Arthur DiGiovine, Vice President
Marketing and Business Development
at Studsvik Scandpower. He sees further business opportunities in Russia
if these plans are realized.
There are two major PWR fuel
suppliers to date, which leaves room
for competition. As one of the world’s
leading manufacturers of nuclear fuel,
JSC TVEL has showed interest in entering the U.S. and European markets.
“If they make a serious move they
will likely become a client of ours,
as there will be a need to qualify and
verify the fuel for the new market,”
says Mikael Karlsson, Manager of
Market & Development, Materials
Technology at Studsvik.
JSC TVEL’s fuel rods are used in 76
commercial and 30 research reactors
in 17 countries.
Another prospective new player on
the European and American PWR fuel
supply market is MNF (Mitsubishi
Nuclear Fuel). “Whoever succeeds,
I believe this will generate business
for us in material technologies at
Studsvik,” says Karlsson. 
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Berkeley
Magnox and LLWR
Magnox Ltd. is a Site License
Company, responsible for all 10
Magnox nuclear sites in the U.K.,
with eight of the sites being
decommissioned on behalf of the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
www.magnoxsites.co.uk
LLW Repository Ltd. is a Site
License Company, operating the
Low Level Waste Repository in
Cumbria, the only low-level waste
disposal facility in the U.K. LLW
Repository Ltd. has an estate-wide
remit to minimize the volume of
low-level waste disposed of at the
repository through the provision
of services to customers to treat
suitable low-level waste on behalf
of the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority.
www.llwrsite.com
Berkeley boilers
to be recycled
Five boilers from the Berkeley nuclear power station
in the U.K., which is being decommissioned, were
removed from the site for radioactive waste treatment.
Up to 90 percent of the metal can be recycled.
text Åke R. Malm · photo Studsvik

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Berkeley
“ The recycling of the metal
meets the requirements of
the waste management
hierarchy, where disposal is
your least preferred option.”
Rachel O’Donnell,
Magnox Integration Manager at LLWR
 Moving the massive boilers from Berkeley nuclear power station in the U.K. to Studsvik’s waste treatment facility in Sweden took a lot of planning and effort.
Currently positioned around
the two reactor buildings at the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s
Berkeley nuclear power station in the
U.K. stand 10 of the initial 16 boilers
that provided the plant’s turbines with
steam. This is the first commercial nuclear power station in the country to be
decommissioned, and the boilers need
to be taken care of in some way.
After size reduction and decontamination on site, one boiler was removed
in 1995 in a pilot project to assess the
method’s cost-effectiveness. In 2011,
Magnox Ltd. and waste-storage provider LLW Repository Ltd. (LLWR)
decided on an off-site solution for the
remaining boilers.
“The best practical and environmental option was to remove them
from the site for treatment and recycling,” says Simon Bedford, Magnox
project manager for the boilers.
A contract for the transportation
and treatment of an initial five boilers
was awarded to Studsvik at a value of
GBP 8 million ($12.7 million). The
work was carried out at the company’s
waste treatment facility in Sweden.
Step one included lifting the boilers
and putting them in position for a
4-mile land transportation to the port
in Sharpness.
“Getting them through the local
town was no small feat,” Bedford
notes, explaining that they weigh 347
tons each, are 69 to 72 feet long and 18
feet in diameter.
The boilers then went by river barge
to the port in Bristol where they were
transferred to a sea vessel for the last
leg of the journey.
“The recycling of the metal meets
the requirements of the waste management hierarchy (avoid – reuse – recycle – dispose), where disposal is your
least preferred option,” says Rachel
O’Donnell, Magnox integration manager at LLWR. “The use of Studsvik’s
facility in Sweden matches this hierarchy very well in terms of recycling metal, to reduce the volumes of low-level
waste being disposed of at the LLWR,
Simon Bedford
preserving capacity at the repository.”
The process at Studsvik will begin
with size reduction, followed by decontamination in automatic blasting
machines and melting in special induction furnaces. Around 90 percent of
the metal can be free released and recycled. The remaining low-level waste
will be returned to LLWR’s Cumbria
facility, where the reduced volume
will help preserve storage capacity for
other decommissioning projects. 
PROBLEM
Boilers at the closed Berkeley nuclear power station must be
removed as a part of the decommissioning process. As much
metal as possible must be recycled to save on natural resources
and reduce the volume of low-level waste.
SOLUTION
Transportation of an initial five boilers to Studsvik’s waste treatment facility in Sweden for size reduction, decontamination and
melting. Ninety percent of the metal can then be free released
and the secondary waste returned to the U.K. for storage.
8 Innova [1:2012]
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
Technology
Lessons
in leaching
Gaining further understanding of spent nuclear fuel
leaching is an essential task that Studsvik has prioritized
over the past 30 years.
text Ella Ekeroth · illustration SVENSKA GRAFIKBYRÅN
From the moment of the
Big Bang when the universe was
created, chemical elements started
to be formed by nuclear reactions.
Protons and neutrons, the basic
components of the elements, were
combined, thus forming heavier
elements. This process is called
fusion. Nuclear reactions like this
are constantly going on in the sun;
it is thanks to these reactions, and
our particular distance from the
sun, that the necessary conditions
for life on Earth can be found.
Solar radiation supplies heat and
light, along with chemical energy
through the photosynthesis of
green plants.
Despite the fact that nuclear
reactions have gone on since time
immemorial, it was not until the
1950s that humans learned how
to control and benefit from these
high-energy processes. Nuclear reactions release immense amounts
of energy, and the use of nuclear
fission in power plants supplies
about half of Sweden’s electricity.
Nuclear fuel consists of small
pellets of ceramic uranium dioxide. The fissile uranium isotope
uranium 235 (235 U) is enriched in
the uranium. This fissile isotope
is divided into lighter nuclides,
called fission products, and it is this
process that releases enormous
amounts of energy. Elements that
are heavier than uranium, the
transuranium elements, are also
formed.
Nuclear waste contains
mainly uranium dioxide (>90%);
the remaining ingredients consist
of fission products and actinides.
Fission products and actinides are
radioactive and emit radiation in
order to reach their stable ground
state.
Radioactivity is the primary
characteristic of nuclear waste.
In order to protect humans and
the environment from the effects
of radioactivity, nuclear waste
in Sweden, for example, must be
kept in a geological repository for
at least 100,000 years. The waste
is encapsulated in copper with an
inner container of cast iron, which
is deposited about 1,600 feet below
the surface in the primary rock,
embedded in clay. These barriers
protect the spent fuel from coming
into contact with ground water. If
the outer barriers should fail, the
nuclear waste itself would work as
 Experiments on leaching of spent fuel
have been going on at Studsvik on behalf
of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste
Management Co. for the past 30 years.
another barrier as uranium dioxide
has a very low solubility in water
under the reducing conditions of
a geological repository. Thus most
of the radioactive fission products
and actinides are retained in the
spent fuel matrix. But due to the
radioactivity, water coming into
contact with the spent fuel will be

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
Technology
 Ilustration of dissolution processes of
spent nuclear fuel in a failed geological final
repository.
fuel pellet
iron corrosion products
failed
outer
barrier
radiation
Fe2+
H2
Fe2+
Fe2+
H2
H2
H2
COPPER CANISTER
RADIOLYSIS PRODUCTS
CAST IRON
CLADDING
GROUNDWATER
Fe2+
dissolution of the fuel matrix
(fission products and actinides)
hydrogen gas and iron ions
precipitation of secondary phases
SVENSKA GRAFIKBYRÅN

decomposed by radiolysis, forming
reactive radicals and molecules. These
radiolysis products might increase the
dissolution rate of the spent fuel, thus
speeding up the release of radioactive
species into the environment. Some
components of the ground water can
impact the leaching process and the
distribution of radionuclides to the
surroundings as well.
During reactor operation, some
fission products form metallic alloy
particles and oxides. The alloy particles can act as catalysts, thus increasing the rate of redox reactions taking
place at the fuel surface. In addition
An EU
project has
been initiated aiming to
improve the
understanding of the
processes of
radionuclides
released into
groundwater.
to the properties of the fuel and the
groundwater, also the cast iron of the
inner container has an impact on the
chemical processes that effect dissolution of the fuel.
For the past 30 years,
Studsvik has performed fuel-leaching
experiments in its hot cell laboratory
on behalf of Swedish Nuclear Fuel
and Waste Management Co (SKB).
This fuel-leaching program aims at
acquiring basic knowledge and identifying correlations between different
properties of nuclear waste and the
dissolution rate of the fuel matrix.
Results of the studies are currently
published in scientific articles and at
international conferences, in order to
ensure that both the data and conclusions are reviewed by leading experts
in the field. In 2012, a new EU project
has been initiated that aims to improve
the understanding of the processes
taking place when the first fraction of
radionuclides (e.g., 137 Cs and 129 I) is released into the groundwater. Studsvik
is participating in this EU project and
will perform leaching tests on behalf of
SKB and POSIVA, the Finnish organization corresponding to SKB.
In order to get an idea about the
long-term performance of a geological
repository, a safety analysis is performed. Results from the Studsvik
fuel-leaching program are used to
improve models that are applied in the
safety analysis of the repository.
Nuclear fuel is continuously being
developed. Existing leaching data have
to be extended by means of new tests
in order to provide data for all types
of nuclear fuel to be deposited in the
geological repository. In this regard,
Studsvik is assuming an important role
by continuously performing experimental studies on spent nuclear fuel
and by applying refined analysis methods to fill gaps and improve models for
a safe geological repository. 
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Profile
Opportunities
abound
One of the first things the
new CEO of Studsvik Anders
Jackson noticed was the
company’s combination of
profound experience and
can-do attitude. Along with
its substantial technical
knowledge, Studsvik is
primed to take advantage
of opportunities within
the industry.
text Åke R. Malm · photo Mattias Bardå
“My main impression so far is
that Studsvik deserves a stronger position in the market,” says the new CEO
of Studsvik, Anders Jackson.
Having spent most of his professional life in the nuclear industry, Jackson
began his new job as CEO in January
2012. Despite being very impressed
with overall operations, he sees room
for improvement at Studsvik.
“I was struck by the commitment
and can-do attitude among the staff,”
he says. “We also have real high-tech
know-how with unique products and
services. Still, we can do much better

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Profile
NEW HEAD OF SEGMENT GERMANY:
Anders Jackson
Age: 53
Education: Master of Science,
Physics Engineering
Professional background:
Jackson spent most of his career
at Westinghouse and ABB Atom.
From 1996–1998 he worked for
Studsvik, and in the mid 2000s
he did a stint as an entrepreneur
in a family enterprise.
Family: Wife and three children,
from 20 to 24 years old, plus a
Flat-Coated Retriever named
Texas.
Home: Västerås, two hours from
Studsvik’s head office.
Interests: Cycling, jogging, skiing, travelling and trying out different foods. He is also licensed
to fly a paraglider.
businesswise. It should be possible to develop something really good from this.”
Jackson believes the market will
continue to be driven by increasing
demands for energy. The International
Atomic Energy Agency predicts that
the demand for electricity will double
before 2030 and that electricity generation from nuclear power will increase
more than 40 percent during the same
period. Over 60 “new” countries have
expressed interest in building new
nuclear plants, and most of the 400
nuclear power reactors that are active
today will have to be modernized or
dismantled over the coming decade.
Consequently, he sees nuclear power
as a cornerstone of the energy mix,
which should create opportunities for
Studsvik.
“First of all, we must continue to
take care of our home markets and the
customers we already have in the best
possible way,” says Jackson, “but we
also should try to grow in other parts of
the world. Personally I believe a lot in
the Asian market, where they are continuously building new plants, such
as in China and India. And then there
is Eastern Europe, which already has
a mature nuclear market and a strong
need for more energy. Many countries
in this region also want to untie themselves from their previous business
relationships with Russian suppliers
and find new partners.”
But new ground has to be bro-
ken within the company, too. Jackson
sees huge potential to coordinate and
bundle offerings to current and new
customers. There is already a strong
cooperative effort today between
Studsvik’s German, U.K. and Swedish
operations. But there is also potential
for so much more – to offer even better solutions, services and products to
customers and increase efficiency.
He says, “I want us to leverage the
close customer relations and high
technical competence in the whole
company and focus on high, valueadded solutions. In the long term, I see
no reason whatsoever why Studsvik’s
can’t be a story of growth, with stable
and increasing profitability.” 
Strategic partner in
a changing market
With a doctorate in chemical engineering and a career in the industry, Stefan
Berbner thinks his new job as Head of
segment Germany fits his background
well.
“It’s a company on a high professional
level with an exciting and demanding
Stefan Berbner
future,” he says.
This future is very much affected by Germany’s decision
to phase out nuclear power. Berbner sees this as an opportunity for Studsvik to strengthen its position in the market.
“Within the broad spectrum of the Studsvik Group,
we will be a strategic partner for power companies in
service, decontamination and disassembly,” he says.
“We are customer-focused and provide complete solutions to meet their needs.”
A threat to Studsvik’s development in the German
market would be if young engineers perceive the
nuclear industry as less attractive now; Berbner thinks
it will be just the opposite.
“Soon there will be a lot of high-end jobs coming up
on the horizon for the planning and physical dismantling
phases of nuclear power plants in Germany,” he says.
NEW PRESIDENT OF STUDSVIK SAS IN FRANCE:
Five-sector focus
Starting out with a doctorate in chemistry,
Hélène Deniau has spent her entire professional life in the French nuclear industry.
She knows the market well and sees it as
divided into five sectors: maintenance services, outsourced operations, dismantling,
waste treatment and engineering studies.
Hélène Deniau
“We have experience in all these
sectors,” says Deniau. “I think dismantling will be the
most important segment in the coming years. As a
consequence, three or four years from now, increasing
volumes of waste will have to be treated. This too will
become a big market in the future.”
Studsvik SAS has 35 employees, which makes it a
relatively small company there. Having gained the
certifications needed to be a supplier to the French
nuclear industry, the challenge is to develop a profile
on an established market.
“We have to be more innovative than the others,”
says Deniau. “If we are just another competitor it will be
difficult.”
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News
Studsvik/Kobelco
developing partnership
In the four years since Japan’s Kobe Steel, Ltd. (Kobelco)
approached engineers at Studsvik with an idea to partner
the marketing of the company’s THOR treatment process
in Japan, the relationship has developed slowly but steadily.
And that’s just the way Howard Stevens likes it.
text Alicia Griswold · photo Istockphoto
“The initial idea,” says Stevens,
Studsvik’s vice president of engineering, “was for Kobelco to be our
representative in Japan when talking
to nuclear facilities. In exchange, they
were to use our engineering expertise
in treating various low-level wastes to
develop proposals for work at various
nuclear power companies.”
Engineers at the steel manufacturer’s waste division are in the final stages of developing proposals for treating
waste related to the treatment of water
used for cooling nuclear reactors at
the Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO), Chubu Electric Power and
other nuclear power companies. “The
technology is being evaluated in the
hopes that they will give us the green
light to secure funding for the design of
a treatment facility in Japan, specifically at Fukushima where the need is
most urgent,” says Stevens.
In addition to expanding the company’s presence in Asia, the Kobelco/
Studsvik partnership has led to discussions of other business opportunities
in Japan for other divisions. These
include large component decommissioning, waste solidification and
volume reduction of secondary waste
generated from the clean-up activities
at Fukushima.
Developing relationships with company representatives in other cultures
is dependent on understanding that
culture. Stevens, who lived in Japan for
two years and speaks some Japanese,
is one of several Studsvik engineers
with experience in Japan. “Speaking
the same language, even with a translator, allows us to be more open, even at
meetings and dinners,” says Stevens.
“We can talk about family and other
things, beyond business, and they tend
to be more open because they know
we can understand their ways of doing
things.”
So, is four years a long time to
wait for a green light? “Not really,” says
Stevens. “Our goal is to build a THOR
process in Japan. Long-term relationships take time to develop. In fact, the
project is still in the beginning stages,
but the potential for future business
continues to expand.”
Taking the necessary time to develop new projects is even more critical as
a result of the Fukushima accident that
followed the Tōhoku earthquake and
tsunami on March 11 2011.
designs as to how we might locate and
build the new facility. In the future,
we’ll look at other opportunities as to
how to safely operate the facility in an
area where seismic and natural disasters are prevalent.”
Fukushima has offered other opportunities and challenges as well.
Safety requirements, always a priority,
have been heightened, but the accident
has compelled Studsvik engineers to
examine other wastewater processes
beyond ion exchange resins to include
the secondary wastes, like those generated by the impact of the tsunami at
the Fukushima nuclear power plant. 
“The Fukushima incident raised
a lot of questions,” says Stevens.
“We’ve looked at our construction
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News
PHoTo: roSiTA colSon
AMP Selling
Points
Considerable cost
saving for our customers.
Increased profitability for SPFM.
SPFM efforts are
focused on sending only activity to
burial.
In the AMP program, containers are opened and measured for radiation levels. David Oliver, Director of Stusdvik Processing Facility Memphis, demonstrates how
bagged material is evaluated for AMP (above right). If needed, bags are then opened and sorted inside the Supersorter (pictured above left).
Savings superheroes
When it comes to developing new
solutions, most great ideas start with
the simple question “What if?” At the
Studsvik Processing Facility Memphis
(SPFM), process engineers realized
that clean material was co-mingling
with contaminated material before
being discarded, effectively causing
the final disposal to weigh more than
was necessary. “We realized that if we
could characterize each item of waste,
we might find that a certain percentage
of this waste was actually clean,” says
Kevin Graczyk, Operations Manager
of SPFM at the Tennessee facility.
After experimenting with different sorting and modeling techniques,
engineers discovered they could pull 70
percent clean material out of each container. Because customers were paying
$ 3.42 per pound, the new process,
when applied, could reduce their cost
to about $ 2 per pound. This amounts
to savings of almost $ 1.50 per pound
when multiplied by the average cost per
pound of one container.
That’s great news for customers,
but the benefits for SPFM were just as
good. “We were making $ 0.10–$ 0.15
per pound on waste, but the advanced
sorting could improve our profit margin
by close to $ 1 per pound for every
pound that would pass Advanced Material Processing (AMP),” says Graczyk.
As the program developed, the team
was able to evaluate whether they
could open up bags and actually dig
for truly contaminated material, says
Graczyk. This idea evolved into the
SuperSort program, which succeeded
in moving the AMP material from
a 70 percent average to about an 85
percent average. The reduction in low
level radioactive waste (LLRW) sent
to Clive, Utah can save a customer
thousands of dollars per shipment. 
PROBLEM
Because of the nature of nuclear work, clean materials were being discarded with contaminated materials in a manner known as co-mingling. This resulted
in a higher-than-necessary amount of waste.
SOLUTION
AMP or Advanced Material Process. By characterizing each item of waste, Studsvik’s SPFM team
reduced the percentage of waste and, as a result,
the overall cost per disposal.
text Alicia Griswold
How it works
Materials that do not meet the
bulk survey for release/disposal
(BSFR) criteria are sorted through
the AMP process sorting area.
These materials include those
with dose rates that are too high
for BSFR directly or which fail
the initial In Situ Object Counting
System (ISOCS) process.
The program can also take
on materials in non-approved
containers that were not
designed for landfill tipping,
or in a container/package that
cannot be placed and easily
unloaded in an SPFM approved
roll-off container.
There are materials that simply cannot be included in the
program unless they undergo
additional processing and repackaging. These include filters,
hoses, hot particle trash, high
contamination trash, debris,
and trash with high dose rates.
Once a container is opened
and its radiation levels
measured with a hand-held
MicroR meters, waste with a
low enough radiation is sent to
BSFR processing. Waste that is
not low enough is sent through
the SuperSort program.
AMP technicians evaluate
metal for the Free Release
Program, decontamination to
BSFR levels, and for processing
for class-A disposal (sent to the
facility in Clive, Utah).
Meanwhile at the SuperSort
area, bags are opened in a safe
area and individual pieces are
surveyed with friskers and
MicroR meters. DAW (dry active waste) that does not meet
BSFR criteria after being super
sorted is repackaged and sent
to the Clive facility. Other waste
types and components are
evaluated for decontamination
and disposal alternatives.
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News
Talking ’bout this generation
Problem: A lack of nuclear engineers in the current generation.
Solution: Develop a recruitment network of young engineers and
recent graduates from surrounding colleges and universities.
text Alicia Griswold · photo Thomas Brown and Sahar Torabzadeh
As Vice President of Engi-
neering for Studsvik in Atlanta, Ga.,
Howard Stevens has his eye on the
calendar. With each passing year the
industry divide between the oldest
engineers and the youngest widens. As
the industry ages, so do the majority
of its engineers, and that group, which
Stevens describes as being in the latter
stages of their careers, is preparing for
retirement.
Like many industries, nuclear
engineering rode a tremendous postwar boom when production shifted
its focus from defense to peacetime
industries, especially in electricity
powered by nuclear energy. But when
the industry found itself in a period of
no growth, many universities closed
down their nuclear engineering programs.
But while the industry’s popularity
declined, the world’s search for lowcarbon sources of power has continually grown making nuclear energy
a viable option once again. With its
greater commitment to safety and the
growing development of advanced
processes for waste removal, the
industry is attracting more and more
engineering graduates who consider
nuclear energy a viable career path.
With relationships at vari-
ous universities in the southeastern
U.S. – Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Auburn University in
Alabama, South Carolina’s Clemson
University and the Universities
of Tennessee and South Carolina,
among others – the company is planning for a future that will be here
sooner rather than later.
Today’s graduates bring a fresh per-
“Today’s
engineering
programs
are teaching
their students how
to think and
that involves
asking questions and not
accepting
the status
quo. That’s
what we’re
looking for.”
Howard Stevens,
Vice President,
Engineering.
spective to the industry, says Stevens.
“They bring technology with them
but they’re also inquisitive, which
challenges us and the status quo. Their
form of creativity is as simple as asking, ‘Why are we doing this?’ and ‘Can
we do it a different way?’”
For example, one team of young
engineers looked at an existing process
and asked if it could be applied to
another waste form. “As a result, we’re
designing a system for AREVA (a
French mining and energy conglomerate) to treat a waste form that hasn’t
been treated by this particular process
before,” says Stevens. “These new
engineers are involved and are bringing up innovative ways to solve the
problems that have affected that client
company for many years.”
Anne Lalinde, HR Manager in
the Atlanta office, works with Stevens
to recruit new talent. In her role she
looks for opportunities in the various
regional institutions to make students
aware of Studsvik. “We also look for
ways to give back to the school, to be
around and be a recognizable name,”
she says.
This might involve long days of
mock interviews hosted by colleges,
which give Lalinde a chance to develop
her pipeline of contacts with graduating seniors and their professors. “We
are developing the potential for mentorships and speaking engagements as
ways to engage our team with universities,” says Lalinde. “We want to know
what the students are interested in to
help us prepare for the next generation
of employees.”
Hands-on experience is high on the
list of graduating engineers. “Because
we’re small, everyone gets involved
in lots of projects,” she says. “Ours get
into R&D, they use our laboratory
scale systems to do research for clients, and they’re involved in pilot plant
operations in Colorado and in learning
how our full scale process runs at our
facility in Erwin, Tennessee.”
Sahar Torabzadeh
was recruited from
the University
of Alabama at
Huntsville. Thomas
Brown found his
future with Studsvik
at alumni career fair,
Georgia Institute of
Technology.
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Time off
Sudoku difficult
5
9
1
3
3
7
5
6
1
5
8
2
4
7
6
3
4
8
9
7
2
7
9
1
5
6
3
6
9
4
7
Brain puzzl
e
Quick-to-prepare
Stir-fried crispy vegetables served with rice or
noodles are a tasty food that can be prepared
quickly. Of course it is possible to add meat,
poultry or seafood to the dish. Enjoy!
Stir-fried vegetables
4 servings
10 to 11 ounces cabbage
2 carrots
2 red onions
1 sweet pepper
7 ounces broccoli
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Sweet chili sauce:
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
3 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
Directions:
Shred cabbage, sweet pepper, carrots
and onions. Cut the broccoli into small
florets. Mix all sauce ingredients.
Heat a wok or a large frying pan and
add the cooking oil. Fry the vegetables
at a high temperature while stirring.
When the vegetables are slightly soft,
but still crisp add the wok sauce. Let it
boil for a couple of minutes, sprinkle
sesame seeds over the dish and serve
with rice or noodles.
Energy: 130 kcal per serving
Fat: 8.3 g per serving
Good luck!
Find four nu
m
using the clu bers
e
s below:
The sum of a
ll
th
e
n
umbers is 31.
Only one num
b
e
r
is
o
dd. Th
number minu
s the lowest n e highest
umb
If you subtra
ct the middle er is 7.
tw
numbers, it e
quals 2. There o
are
no duplicate
numbers.
Find the answ
er at the
bottom of the
page.
Guess the photo
What is this? Find out by
turning the
magazine
upsidedown!
Brainpuzzle: The numbers are 12, 8, 6, and 5. Guess the photo: Experiments on leaching of spent fuel at Studsvik’s Hot Cell Laboratory.
AM16_back.indd 16
u.S. EditiON
Studsvik AB, P.O. Box 556, SE-611 10 Nyköping. Phone: +46 155 22 10 00,
Fax: +46 155 26 30 00, e-mail: studsvik@studsvik.se, www.studsvik.com
2012-04-20 09:52:30