The Swedish government is pushing ahead with plans to add a fleet of new nuclear reactors to its grid as it squares up to a hike in power demand.

Sweden has not connected a new reactor since 1985 and has been on a phaseout path, with only six reactors remaining online.

"Today's discussion on nuclear is happening in front of an entirely different background," Michael Knochenhauer, head of the country's Radiation Safety Authority, said at an Aug. 9 press briefing, pointing to the technology's benefits for climate protection, as well as technological progress in reactor construction.

Having taken office in 2022, Sweden's government is pursuing capacity equivalent to 10 new nuclear reactors, and in June changed the country's target for 100% renewable energy for 2045 to 100% fossil-free energy, creating an opening for nuclear. Traditional reactors can be anywhere from 300 MW to more than 1,000 MW in size.

"This government has from day one worked to tackle the hindrances in the way of nuclear," Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari said at the briefing.

Sweden is among Europe's pioneers in the electrification of not just household energy consumption but also industrial processes.

It is home to projects like HYBRIT by Vattenfall AB, SSAB AB (publ) and Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (publ), which will make steel from an electric arc furnace, as well as steelmakers that are tackling decarbonization via green hydrogen like H2 Green Steel.

Such power-intensive plans are set to double Sweden's energy demand by 2040 to 300 TWh per year.

Pourmokhtari said the government has worked backward from this demand projection to inform policy now, concluding that wind and solar expansion alone will not be enough.

"Doubling power generation in 20 years is a major challenge, and achieving it likely means saying yes to all new fossil-free power generation available," said Urban Andersson, research director for nuclear power at Stockholm-based think tank Energiforsk.

Wind power is faster to build out at scale, Andersson said in an email.

"During the '70s and '80s, Sweden built 12 nuclear reactors during 15 years, so it is plausible — but the conditions are quite different with a deregulated market and competitive utilities," Andersson said. "Under these conditions the investment uncertainties have a much larger impact on the cost and interest to invest."

New reactors could be both traditional units or so-called small modular reactors (SMRs), a technology that promises quicker construction timelines and reduced cost thanks to modular manufacturing, but for now remains in the pilot phase.

SMRs could benefit Sweden because they can be built in many different places, not only by the coast where the sea provides cooling water, said Knochenhauer, who on Aug. 9 handed a recommendation report on new nuclear to the government.

Among the recommendations is an amendment to the country's environmental code, as well as international cooperation to benefit from know-how elsewhere.

Laws on financing and the system for nuclear waste disposal also need to be adjusted to enable new projects to be built, the radiation authority said.

Details on nuclear pathway to come

As it stands, Swedish law only allows for 10 reactors on the country's entire grid. "We need to overhaul Swedish regulation so we can benefit from this technology," Pourmokhtari said.

The government will present an action plan for new nuclear in the fall, the minister added, in the hope that visibility on policy will help drive market interest for new investment in Swedish nuclear and "undo the damage done by previous governments which took away investment certainty."

"This is groundwork that should have been laid a long time ago," Pourmokhtari said.

For now, Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall is the only company pledging to build new nuclear reactors in the country.

Meanwhile, beyond the government's tenure, support for new nuclear is not guaranteed. A coalition between the Moderate Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party is in charge, in cooperation with the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Opposition party the Social Democrats have long been in favor of exiting nuclear power, though the recent energy crisis and rising energy costs have shifted their views.

Skeptics of the nuclear plans point to long lead times and big price tags for new nuclear. Sweden's onshore wind developers are also lamenting slow and burdensome permitting for new projects that have stunted their development pipeline.

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