GE awarded Swedish upgrade

nuclear business has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to upgrade the monitoring and control systems for the Forsmark Nuclear Power Station,

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GE is supplying Forsmarks Kraftgrupp of Osthammar, Sweden, a subsidiary of state-run utility, Vattenfall, with its Power Range Neutron Monitor (PRNM) system, based on GE's high-speed digital technology.

Forsmarks Kraftgrupp ordered the new PRNM equipment as part of the utility's multi-year program to upgrade plant performance and safety systems. The new system will replace the three-unit, 3,117-megawatt plant's original power range monitoring equipment. The operator plans to uprate the plant's production by 410 megawatts.

Sweden operates 11 nuclear power plants that provide about 50 percent of the country's electricity, and Forsmark contributes about one-sixth of that supply.

GE Energy's PRNM system takes advantage of several enhanced features to improve system operation and includes automated system surveillance testing.

The primary function of the PRNM is to monitor the reactor power level and initiate automatic protective actions to ensure compliance with plant safety limits. The system collects and processes signals from in-core detectors and communicates with the core-monitoring computer, display computer and other plant systems.

GE's contract with Forsmarks Kraftgrupp includes design, hardware and software, engineering, licensing support, operator display assemblies and training. GE previously installed control equipment at two of Forsmark's reactors in 1993.

GE's PRNM system, a key element in upgrading plant's safety equipment, will be installed in Unit 2 during that reactor's next scheduled refuelling and maintenance outage in July 2006. Installation for units 1 and 3 will be performed during their respective outages in 2007.