Sweden’s government will ask the Parliament to approve state loans worth $23.4 billion (220 billion Swedish crowns) to companies to build nuclear reactors in the Scandinavian country.
Sweden plans to build two new nuclear reactors by 2035 in a hedge on low-carbon energy security, with 10 new reactors hoped for by 2045.
The Swedish government moved to phase out nuclear power completely in 1980, but that decision was reversed by Parliament in 2010. Five years later, four aging reactors were shut down. Six of 12 reactors remain in operation in Sweden today.
The country is now betting on small modular reactors (SMRs) to expand its nuclear fleet as Stockholm seeks to further reduce emissions with low-carbon 24/7 energy.
Sweden has tweaked its renewable energy policy, which had called for 100% renewable electricity by 2040, changing the terminology to “100% fossil-free” electricity, paving the way for the construction of more nuclear power plants.
The Parliament of Sweden approved in late 2023 a new energy bill paving the way for the construction of additional nuclear reactors beyond the 10 originally approved.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an energy-market-disrupting series of Western sanctions, nuclear power has regained much support in Europe as a critical aspect of reaching net-zero by 2050.
Sweden’s Vattenfall, the state-owned utility, last month shortlisted American company GE Vernova and British company Rolls-Royce SMR as potential suppliers of SMRs. Both suppliers could deliver within a reasonable timeframe and budget, taking into account the conditions of the Värö Peninsula along the Swedish west coast, Vattenfall said in August, adding that the process now continues towards selecting a final supplier.
Sweden’s state support for new nuclear reactors would help fund 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power, Financial Markets Minister Niklas Wykman said on Friday.
“It’s not a price tag… it is a loan framework that is needed to be able to conduct sharp negotiations,” the minister said, as quoted by Reuters.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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