Sweden to Build 10 Nuclear Power Reactors

GALWAY, IRELAND--August 21, 2023--Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Sweden's coalition government has announced plans to build up to 10 new nuclear reactors over the next two decades.

This would more than double the number of the country's existing reactors, which are already more than 40 years old and supply about 30% of the country's power. The government claimed the expansion of nuclear power is critical to the country achieving its climate goals and boosting its energy security for the future. The European Union's (EU) "Fit for 55" plan legally requires all Member States to cut emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and become climate neutral by 2050.

"Since day one, this government has worked with full force to remove the obstacles erected to prevent new nuclear power," said Sweden's Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari at the launch of a positive report from the Radiation Safety Authority (SSM). "Climate change requires a doubling of electricity production, and nuclear power will have to account for a large part of that increase. The government sees that new nuclear power, corresponding to at least ten new conventional reactors, needs to be built by 2045. This report is an important basis when the government is now laying the foundations for climate change through the electrification of industry and the transport sector."

The coalition government signaled its positive stance on new nuclear power last October with its written Tidö Agreement, which changed the country's energy mission from "100% renewable to 100% fossil-free." It will require changes to the current environmental protection code, which restricts the maximum number of nuclear reactors to 10 and stipulates that new reactors can only be located at existing nuclear plant sites. Pourmokhtari stated: "We want to lift these restrictions". Sweden's population has tended to be against new nuclear power in the past, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis across Europe has helped shift popular opinion.

The report from SSM broadly supports the government's goals, including a faster shift toward new technology like small modular reactors (SMRs). "With the existing proposal for a new nuclear act and the added proposals that the authority is now presenting, we see that a possible licensing process for new nuclear reactors can be made more efficient without any reduction in the required level of safety", commented Michael Knochenhauer, acting director general of SSM. "We also propose that a process for early assessment of new reactor technology is implemented in Sweden. Together with increased international cooperation, a process for pre-licensing review can contribute to the authority's ability and readiness to perform licensing activities in an efficient manner, and reduces the risk that fundamental issues or impediments to grant a permit are identified late in the design process".

Today, Sweden has six operating reactors, two each at Ringhals, Forsmark and Oskarshamn. Two others, Ringhals 1 and 2 were closed at the end of 2020 and 2019, respectively, due to punitive taxes. State-owned energy major Vattenfall (Stockholm) was tasked by the government late last year to look into the possibility of building new reactors as well as restarting older ones at the Ringhals power plant. The company is also investigating the possibility of building two SMRs at the Ringhals nuclear plant. For additional information, see November 1, 2022, article - Sweden Wants New Nuclear Power.

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