Five Swedish Companies Join Forces for Nuclear Power Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The historic decision taken by the Swedish government on February 5, 2009, to revive the nuclear energy program in Sweden has been welcomed by Swedish industry, particularly by the group Industrins Kraft, which is jointly owned by five leading companies based in Scandinavia and the Netherlands.

Industrins Kraft is a conglomerate jointly owned by Stora Enso OYJ (OTC:SEOAY) (Helsinki, Finland), Svenska Cellulosa AB (Stockholm, Sweden), Holmen AB (Stockholm), Boliden AB (Stockholm) and Akzo Nobel NV (OTC:AKZOY) (Arnhem, Netherlands). Together, these firms are expected to invest between $4.6 billion and $5.7 billion in building new nuclear power stations in Sweden. Despite the political unease surrounding the future of nuclear power, the group appears unconcerned that the recent decision, which has not yet been ratified by the parliament, might be overturned after the next general election in Sweden in 2010.

The nuclear question has been a hot political topic in Sweden for nearly 40 years. Following the commissioning of the first reactor, Oskarshamn 1, in 1972, the uncertainties pertaining to the disposal of nuclear waste and the March 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania resulted in calls for a referendum in Sweden to determine the future of nuclear power in the country. The referendum, held in March 1980, decided that the 12 nuclear power stations that were currently in operation should be allowed to continue for their expected lifetime of 25 to 30 years, but that no new nuclear power stations would be built.

In 1997, the left-wing government coalition decided to shut down two reactors, Barseback 1 in 1999 and Barseback 2 in 2005. Following the change of government in 2006, the newly elected four-party right-wing coalition stated that there would be no new nuclear power stations considered during its first mandate period. It was thus a major turnaround by the Center party that resulted in the decision to allow the development of new nuclear power stations to replace the aging reactors currently in operation.

There are concerns that there will not be sufficient expertise to build and run new nuclear power stations in Sweden. However, much of the expertise involved in the development of the existing power stations remains in Sweden. Many of the existing nuclear power plants in the country were designed and delivered by ABB Atom, now Westinghouse Electric Sweden (Vasteras, Sweden), a part of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Monroeville, Pennsylvania), which in turn operates as a part of Toshiba Corporation (TYO:6502) (Tokyo, Japan). The turbines and heat exchangers for existing nuclear power plants were supplied by ABB, which also supplied nuclear fuel, control rods and control-rod drives. The control rooms and physical buildings were developed by, among others, Skanska AB (STO:SKAA) (Solna, Sweden) and Vattenfall AB (Stockholm).

The Nuclear Training and Safety Center of Sweden has been responsible for the training of most of the operators and technicians employed in the country's nuclear power stations. The center has full-scale nuclear power plant simulators in operation and provides education at university level in nuclear-power-related topics. Maintenance of the existing power plants in Sweden has been handled by Westinghouse Electric Sweden along with maintenance service companies from Germany, France and the U.K.

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