Sweden

As of 31 December 2022

There are six reactors operating in three locations in Sweden: Ringhals, 50 km south of Gothenburg; Oskarshamm, 220 km south of Stockholm; and Forsmark, 120 km north of Stockholm.

In October 2022 a pro-nuclear centre-right coalition government took office. During its first month in power, the government called on Vattenfall to investigate the possible restart of Ringhals 1&2 and to prepare for the construction of new reactors. In January 2023 the government announced that it was preparing legislation that would scrap both the country’s limit of ten reactors and the requirement to only build new nuclear reactors at locations where they already exist. The proposed legislation is expected to be in place by March 2024.

In December 2022 Fortum and Kärnfull announced that they were exploring the development of SMRs in the country. In January 2023 Vattenfall announced that it was considering the option of installing SMR-based capacity at the Ringhals nuclear power plant.

In April 2023 Ringhals 4 restarted after being offline for eight months due to damage to the pressure vessel that occurred during routine maintenance.

Figure Sw1. Annual electricity output (TWh) and age of reactors (years) at time of generation

Figure Sw2. Average capacity factor of reactors in Sweden

Figure Sw3. Emissions avoidance through use of nuclear generation in Sweden

WNN Links

Changes to Swedish law proposed to enable nuclear new build : World Nuclear News - 12 January 2023

Fortum and Kärnfull to explore SMR deployment in Sweden : World Nuclear News - 15 December 2022