Last month, the company submitted an application to the government to construct the Norrsundet plant, which will have a total generating capacity of up to 330 MWe and an estimated annual production of 2.76 TWh, which would meet approximately 13% of Sweden’s target of 2,500 MW of new nuclear power capacity by 2035. Subject to the necessary permits and final investment decisions, the facility could become operational in the first half of the 2030s.
Blykalla’s application is the first to be submitted for advanced nuclear power under the new Swedish financing model, which came into effect on 1 August last year. The financing model consists of three instruments: government loans; a contract-for-difference; and a risk and profit-sharing mechanism. The concrete parameters (interest rate level, strike price, contract length) are negotiated project by project and tested by the European Commission.
“This application is a major milestone toward building the clean baseload power Sweden needs,” said Blykalla CEO Jacob Stedman. “The new financing model is designed to enable exactly what we plan to build, an advanced nuclear reactor park that can meet Sweden’s rapidly growing electricity needs as industry is electrified and we increasingly rely on a digital infrastructure. For our reactor park in Norrsundet, it also means that we can expand supply chains with partners and suppliers, and thus take important steps towards commercial series production.”
Blykalla noted that the next step in the funding process was to negotiate with the Swedish government about the parameters of the financing model. At the same time, parallel applications are under way with permits according to the Environmental Code and the Nuclear Technology Act and close cooperation with Gävle Municipality.
“The fact that we are now receiving another application to build new nuclear power shows that the financing model with state support is working well,” said Minister of Financial Markets Niklas Wykman. “With new nuclear power, we get stable and fossil-free base power that can secure jobs and growth in Sweden.”
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Rendering of the SEALER building in Norrsundet (Image: Blykalla)
The application will now be prepared at the Ministry of Finance by the Secretariat for Financing New Nuclear Power. The ministry said that an application means that the work for the government to be able to make a decision on support can begin. In addition to preparing the application itself, the process also includes negotiations between the government and the company on the terms and scope of the support. An ongoing dialogue with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition then leads to a formal examination of whether the support is compatible with the EU’s state aid rules.
Blykalla – formerly called LeadCold – is a spin-off from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where lead-cooled reactor systems have been under development since 1996. The company – founded in 2013 as a joint stock company – is developing the SEALER (Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor).
In October 2022, Sweden’s incoming centre-right coalition government adopted a positive stance towards nuclear energy. In November 2023, it unveiled a roadmap which envisages the construction of new nuclear generating capacity equivalent to at least two large-scale reactors by 2035, with the equivalent capacity of up to 10 new large-scale reactors (which may include small modular reactors) coming online by 2045. A new act on state aid entered into force on 1 August 2025, since when interested companies have been able to apply for the aid.
The Swedish government received the first such application in December to support proposals for either five GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors or three Rolls-Royce SMRs to provide about 1500 MW capacity at Ringhals on the Värö Peninsula. The application came from Videberg Kraft AB, a project company owned by Vattenfall AB and backed by a series of industrial firms via the Industrikraft i Sverige AB consortium.
