Norway Nuclear Decommissioning (NND – Norsk Nukleær Dekommisjonering) has contracted US-based Amentum and its joint venture partner Multiconsult Norge AS to deliver safety case management and training for Norway’s nuclear clean-up programme.
The contract is focused on delivering a new methodology for robust and well documented safety cases for new design and existing legacy nuclear facilities, including shut down reactors, post-operational clean-out and decommissioning, as well as facilities for storage and management of used fuel and radioactive waste.
Andy White, senior vice president of Amentum Energy & Environment International, said: “This contract award is a strong vote of confidence from a client and comes at a pivotal time when Norway is considering the deployment of small modular reactors to meet its future energy needs.” He added: “We will bring our extensive global experience in nuclear safety analysis – spanning the entire lifecycle – to this project, with particular emphasis on assessing legacy facilities and supporting their decommissioning in line with advanced safety standards.”
The contract covers work at, Norway’s national waste repository KLDRA (Kombinerte Lager og Deponi for lav- og mellomaktivt Radioaktivt Avfall), and two research sites – a nuclear fuel and materials testing reactor at Halden and the JEEP-II neutron scattering facility at Kjeller.
Amentum and Multiconsult have been working for NND since summer 2022 under an engineering and technical framework, helping to develop a decommissioning strategy, including approaches for used fuel and radioactive waste management.
NND applied in December 2022 for a licence to own and operate the three facilities – the Halden reactor, the JEEP-II facility and KLDRA at Himdalen in Aurskog/Høland, which is operated by IFE and owned by Statsbygg. The Halden and JEEP-II reactors were declared permanently shut down by IFE in June 2018 and April 2019, respectively.
The government licence is valid from 1 April for an unlimited period, “but with the possibility of revocation”. It includes “the right to own, store, process, transport, possess and place nuclear material”, the government noted. “The licence also includes the right to trade nuclear material, but only to the extent necessary to return irradiated fuel to the client or owner in accordance with return agreements previously entered into by IFE or that will be entered into by NND in the future. The licence does not include the right to export nuclear material out of the country.… If it becomes relevant at a later date, NND may apply for a permit for this.”
