Resolves YES if by the end of 2035, at least one new nuclear power plant is operational (meaning supplying power) in Sweden. Otherwise NO.
Background
Sweden’s incoming government will ask state-run utility Vattenfall AB to add nuclear power stations as the economy becomes increasingly electrified.
“New reactors will be built in Sweden,” Ebba Busch, whose Christian Democrat party belongs to an alliance that won the most seats in last month’s general election, said at a news conference Friday. The right-wing bloc is slated to become the Nordic nation’s government in a parliamentary vote next week.
Vattenfall decommissioned two units at its Ringhals plant in 2019 and 2020. There were fierce debates through the election campaign as the Moderates accused the government of intervening in the utility’s decision. The government maintained it was a commercial decision by Vattenfall.
The company has been preparing for a nuclear revival for some time. The first additions could be a new breed of small modular reactors, known as SMRs, which are about a quarter in size compared with the current units.
In June, just after the government warned that Sweden was facing an acute power crisis, Vattenfall said it would start an 18-month study into the technology. The first could come online in the early 2030s, the firm said.
