The Russian Nuclear Company The West Can't Live Without
When European countries want to decommission aging nuclear plants, they often call Nukem. There’s only one catch.
The bottom section of a reactor tank during the decommissioning of the Barsebaeck Kraft AB nuclear power plant in Barsebaeck, Sweden.
Source: Uniper SE
Cutting the heart out of a nuclear power plant is a surgical procedure that only a few specialists are equipped to handle.
The process begins by launching plasma-torch-wielding robots into an empty pool surrounded by thick concrete walls. From there, the remote-controlled machines make circular cuts, as if slicing pineapple rings, through a 600-ton steel vessel that contains radiation generated over decades of splitting atoms. These rings are then diced into meter-long pieces and transported via secure convoy to radioactive waste repositories, where they are left to cool down — indefinitely.