PROVEN AT SCALE
1 in 4 Nuclear plants worldwide
<p>run on ABB technology</p>No. 1 In distributed control
<p>Global market leader for more than 25 consecutive years</p>140+ Years of engineering
<p>60 years of deep nuclear engineering heritage</p>100+ Countries served
<p>Local engineering and service teams, wherever the plant is</p>900+ GW Installed capacity
<p>Generation running on ABB systems worldwide</p>~100m Connected I/O points
<p>Across roughly 100,000 operator workstations</p>TURNING NUCLEAR POTENTIAL INTO PREDICTABLE PERFORMANCE
Reactor technology accounts for about 20 percent of a nuclear plant. The other 80 percent, such as turbines, cooling, switchgear, control systems, cabling — is where schedules slip and budgets grow.
ABB delivers that 80 percent as one integrated scope. One contract, one interface, one team accountable for the automation, electrification and digital systems that connect your reactor to the grid.
ABB'S NUCLEAR HERITAGE: FROM THE FIRST REACTORS TO TODAY
1883
- 1883
- 1950's
- 1960's
- 1970's
- 1980's
- 2000's
1883 ASEA is founded in Sweden
<p>ASEA starts building electrical machines in Västerås. Motors, generators and switchgear — the same engineering base ABB brings to nuclear plants today.</p>
1952 Test reactor planning
<p>Brown, Boveri & Cie. (BBC) is involved in Swiss nuclear work through a consortium planning a test reactor.</p>1955 Reaktor AG founded in Switzerland
<p>BBC founder and Industrialist, Walter Boveri, is involved in founding Reaktor AG in Switzerland.</p>1957 Nuclear R&D begins in Sweden
<p>ASEA starts early nuclear research and development work in Sweden.</p>
1965 Sweden orders its first light water reactor
<p>OKG places the order with ASEA for Oskarshamn 1. It begins a Swedish fleet that ASEA and its successors would largely build and still support.</p>1968 ASEA and AB Atomenergi form ASEA-Atom
<p>Sweden concentrates its reactor and plant engineering into one company. ASEA-Atom goes on to supply reactor and conventional island systems across the Swedish fleet.</p>1969 Ringhals 1 begins construction
<p>Construction starts on Ringhals 1, the first of the units ASEA-Atom would deliver through the 1970s. It takes seven years from ground-breaking to first power in 1976.</p>
1970 Barsebäck 1 and 2 begin construction
<p>Work begins on two units at Barsebäck, operational in 1975 and 1978. Building in series, rather than one plant at a time, is how a fleet gets delivered to schedule.</p>1972 Oskarshamn 1 enters commercial operation
<p>Sweden’s first commercial nuclear plant starts generating. ABB systems still support units at the site more than 50 years later.</p>1974 Olkiluoto 1 and 2 begin construction
<p>ASEA-Atom’s work crosses the Baltic. Olkiluoto 1 and 2 start construction in 1974 and 1975, entering operation in 1979 and 1982 for a Finnish utility.</p>
1980 Forsmark 1 enters operation
<p>Units 2 and 3 follow by 1985. Across the Swedish and Finnish programme, smaller units took four to seven years to build and larger ones six to ten.</p>1985 Oskarshamn 3 starts up
<p>Ordered from ASEA-Atom and Stal-Laval in 1976, O3 becomes one of the largest boiling water reactors in the world. Lifecycle support starts on day one.</p>1988 ASEA and BBC merge to form ABB
<p>Two power engineering companies combine. Swedish nuclear experience and Swiss power technology come under one roof, with the global service footprint customers draw on now.</p>
2004 System 800xA is launched
<p>ABB’s distributed control system platform arrives. It now runs roughly 100,000 operator workstations worldwide, and gives legacy plants a route to modernization without replacing everything at once.</p>2024 ABB supports SMR development
<p>ABB signs a memorandum of understanding with Blykalla covering automation, electrification, digitalization and cyber security for its SEALER-E lead-cooled pilot near Oskarshamn.</p>2025 ABB broadens nuclear collaboration
<p>ABB partners with Oklo, building a digital monitoring room for operator training and simulation, and with Paragon Energy Solutions to develop integrated instrumentation, control and electrification solutions for the US nuclear sector.</p>2026 ABB scales advanced nuclear
<p>One in four nuclear plants worldwide now runs on ABB technology. From SMR collaborations such as Rolls-Royce, to lifetime extension projects at Cernavodă in Romania and Bruce Power in Canada. ABB supplies the conventional island and the electrical balance of plant as one scope.</p>YOUR TIER-1 INDUSTRIAL SCALE-UP PARTNER
We take the conventional island and the electrical balance of plant - the systems that move power from the reactor to the grid.
- Distributed control systems (DCS) and safety-related automation, certified to Safety Category B and C
- Electrical balance of plant: switchgear, transformers, motors, drives, cabling and power management
- Simulation and virtual testing before anything is built, so interface faults surface on screen, not on site
THREE WAYS WE REDUCE YOUR RISK
<p>ABB is a holistic partner, supporting you with competence and solutions for the whole nuclear plant. Here are some selected ways we can support you, from design to life cycle support.</p>
Early risk reduction
- We join at pre-FEED and FEED stage, before the expensive decisions are locked in
- Virtual testing proves system dynamics and finds interface faults before equipment reaches site
- One supplier for automation and electrification removes the split-scope friction that delays commissioning
Proven technology
- Safety Category B and C certified control and electrification, already licensed in operating plants
- Hardware-agnostic packages that work across any turbine or reactor supplier
- Standardized conventional island architecture that fits any viable reactor concept
Long-term operability
- We upgrade inside planned refueling outages, so baseload generation is not interrupted
- Stepwise modernization keeps proven systems in service and avoids full hardware replacement
- Long-term parts and engineering agreements protect legacy hardware from obsolescence
MACRO MARKET TRENDS AND THE BASELOAD SURGE
The challenge is not only adding more low carbon energy — it is building a power system that can deliver large volumes of low carbon electricity while staying stable, secure and competitive.
Elova Ryegard
Nuclear Competence Cluster Lead
Energy Industries, ABB
A SMART PLANT FOR NUCLEAR
ABB technology consolidates the 80% conventional island under a single synchronized scope, uniting plant automation, power distribution, instrumentation, high-power rotating equipment, and variable-speed drives to protect commissioning schedules.