THE REMAINING ten giant boilers at Berkeley Power Station will be taken to Sweden in the New Year.

Fifteen 310-tonne boilers, each measuring 21.3 metres by 5.3 metres, were an integral part of the electricity production process of the nuclear power plant before it stopped operations in 1989.

In March, five of the boilers were taken to Sweden for recycling by decommissioning company Studsvik.

And now a new £15 million contract has been awarded to the same company to move the final ten boilers from Magnox’s Berkeley site to Studsvik’s processing plant close to Nyköping in Sweden.

Earlier this year, the first five boilers travelled four miles by road to Sharpness Docks, where they were shipped to Avonmouth dockyard before travelling by sea to Sweden.

At the time anti-nuclear groups raised concerns about the policy of transporting nuclear waste long distances, but Magnox confirmed that such movements were authorised by the Environment Agency.

Steve McNally, Berkeley site director for Magnox said: "The removal of these boilers will be another important step in preparing the site for entry into care and maintenance.

"This is the final lot to go and is part of the ongoing decommissioning process."

Mr McNally told the Gazette that while Magnox was still finalising the logistics and dates for the removal of the boilers from the site, the company would be fully engaging with the community as the plans developed.

The removal of the first five boilers involved some disruption on the roads through Berkeley.