COUNTRY REPORT | SWEDEN


Ready for a new start?


Pressure is building for a rebirth of Sweden’s nuclear industry


Above left: The Forsmark nuclear reactors just outside Oregrund, Sweden Photo credit: Stefan Holm/ Shutterstock.com


Above right: Barseback 1 was closed in 1999 with the second unit following in 2005 Photo credit: kimson/ Shutterstock.com


SWEDEN’S GENERAL ELECTION ON 11 September could set the agenda for the country’s nuclear industry for the next half century. Of the country’s original reactors – located at the four


sites of Barseback, Ringhals, Forsmark and Oskarshamn – five remain in operation, two at Ringhals, two at Forsmark and one at Oskarshamn. All, their owners believe, could operate for more than the currently expected 60-year lifetime. Closing and dismantling some reactors has allowed operators to examine how those reactors have aged in close detail and the outcome is positive. The industry believes that a lifetime of considerably longer than 60 years can be achieved by all the reactors. Relicensing is not required as under the Swedish framework (as in the UK) licenses are not time-limited, providing the nuclear safety authority regards them as safe to operate. But plans for both longer lifetimes and new units still face barriers that require government action. Will the incoming government take action? Meanwhile, operators also want to explore options


for new units – just a month or two ago Ringhals owner Vattenfall said it was investigating the potential for 300 MW small modular reactors at the site. A key barrier for both these initiatives is a 2016 energy


plan agreed by five of Sweden’s largest political parties (eight parties will contest the election) which set a target for an entirely renewable generation system by 2040. By excluding nuclear from the portfolio, legislators extinguished any investor interest in funding further life extensions for Sweden’s existing nuclear capacity. It also dealt a blow to the companies’ ability to secure investment in any nuclear new-build. Most of the political parties have changed their view on


nuclear in the last few years as the scale Sweden’s future power demand has become clear. Sweden is expected


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to see its power demand double, as other sectors such as transport switch from fossil fuels to electric and, crucially, the country’s energy intensive industries (such as steelmaking) have to decarbonise. This is expected to require hydrogen and may require nuclear-powered electrolysis to produce it. Wind power is set to increase markedly, as the falling costs of offshore wind and its expansion into new areas by using floating, instead of fixed turbines make it more attractive. Sweden recently announced plans to produce 2-30 TWh annually from offshore wind – more than a fifth of its current annual power demand of 140 TWh. Nonetheless, demand projections mean even that will not crowd out nuclear. In response, most parties have moved from the 100%


renewables position. Instead, their position is “we need more of everything”. Today only the Green party is still explicitly anti-nuclear.


On the agenda The incoming government can release the constraints on life extension by simply changing the ‘100% renewables by 2040’ policy to allow for nuclear. But two more changes are required to allow for new-build. First, the current Environment Act allows for only 10 nuclear units in Sweden – of any size. That presents the industry with some dilemmas. If Vattenfall were to follow up its investigation of SMRs with a decision to build at Ringhals, it could quickly reach the total permitted units without fully replacing the capacity lost by a single one of the closed plants. And, of course, other nuclear generators may want to take up some of the 10 total units currently allowed. Second, building new nuclear units at sites other than


the four current or recently closed sites is not permitted. That presents a problem for Swedish heavy industry, which has expressed an interest in using SMRs to produce


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