Summary of 2nd Lecture Meeting on June 29, 2000

Nuclear Power in Sweden

By Dr. Lief Ericson,

Vice President, Studsvik Nuclear AB

The Swedish nuclear power program that was initiated in 1947 by the formation of AB Atomenergi that later on became Studsvik resulted in the building of 12 nuclear power reactors at 4 different sites; Oskarshamn, Barsebäck, Ringhals and Forsmark.

The first reactor was Oskarshamn 1 a 445 MW electric BWR that started its services in 1972. The last reactors taken into operation were Forsmark 3 and Oskarshamn 3. Both started in 1985. That completed the Swedish nuclear power program consisting of twelve reactors ? 2 at Barsebäck, 3 at Oskarshamn and Forsmark, all BWRs built by ASEA-Atom and 4 at Ringhals out of which one was a BWR of the same type as the others and 3 were PWRs supplied by Westinghouse.

Until November 30, 1999 the total output of the twelve units were more than 10.000 MW with a generation of about 70 TWh per year which is about 50 % of Sweden’s electricity consumption a normal year.

Already in1980 after a national referendum on the future of nuclear power sparked by the Three Mile Island accident the Swedish parliament allowed the utilities to use the twelve reactors built or under construction but no additional plants would be allowed. It was also said that all 12 reactors would be allowed to operate throughout their lifetime assumed to be 25 years. This was a misinterpretation of the 25 years depreciation period used by the utilities. Thus, the whole nuclear program would be phased out by 2010. At the time this was of no major concern since 2010 was more than 25 years away.

However, the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 had a very negative impact and activated again the negative attitudes towards nuclear power although it was clearly stated that the Swedish nuclear power operators had nothing to learn from what happened at Chernobyl.

The fallout in Sweden caused a widespread but unfounded fear among the public, which was utilized by the anti-nuclear political parties.

The new leaders of the Social Democratic Party concluded it was necessary to “vaccinate” the public opinion by actually starting the phase-out of nuclear power.

In 1988 before the general election the Parliament decided to close one reactor in 1995 and another one in 1996.

Thereby it was again possible to avoid nuclear power to be an issue in the election compaign.

Opposition from primarily the trade unions that were concerned about the future of the Swedish industry and the jobs made the politicians change their minds again. The phase-out by 1995-96 was postponed.

However, the debate continued and the political situation led to still another phase-out decision. This time it was decided to close Barsebäck 1 by July 1, 1988 and Barsebäck 2, three years later. It was also decided to abandon the old decision to phase out the whole nuclear program by 2010.

The closure of Barsebäck 1 was delayed due to legal obstacles but it was finally forced to close on November 30, 1999.

Thus, today there are 11 reactors in operations in Sweden.