The government's push to overturn a 30-year-old ban on building new nuclear reactors will test how much green concerns over atomic power still resonate in a modern European country seeking cheap and carbon-free electricity. The context of the move is highly politicised with parliamentary elections due on 19 September.
The bill will not expand nuclear power, the government says, but maintain it at present levels, upgrading technology and increasing owners' liability as a way of limiting the risk of accidents.
"We want to clarify that the nuclear industry has to take full responsibility for all costs regarding the worst cases, if there was a real accident," Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, whose ministry launched the bill, told Reuters.
Carlgren said that if passed, the nuclear industry would only be able to build new reactors to replace existing ones.
"So we won't have more reactors than the ten we have now. In ten years' time, one or two [new reactors] could be invested in."
European states such as Finland, the Czech Republic and the UK are keen on nuclear power as a means of providing a reliable source of energy, cutting the need for fossil fuel imports and reducing man-made carbon emissions.
Parties split on the atom
The nuclear issue may loom large in the election campaign, where the centre-right government faces an uphill battle to remain in power against a resurgent Social Democratic Party and some staunchly anti-nuclear opposition parties.
The leader of the Social Democrats, Mona Sahlin, is against building new reactors, and is hoping she will form a coalition government with the similarly anti-nuclear Greens and the ex-communist Left Party. However, many in her party are in favour of nuclear power, particularly the trade unions.
"Nuclear power is probably going to be one of four or five issues in this election," Folke Johansson, a professor of political science at Gothenburg University, told Reuters.
"But it is not going to be the dominating one," he said, suggesting that jobs and the economy will be more important.
"Nuclear power was very controversial in the late 1970s and 80s - one government fell because of that issue," he said, adding that the debate has softened since then.
Surveys show that nuclear power is now favoured by most Swedes. In a March poll, atomic energy was ranked by Swedes as the best energy source for protecting the environment and creating jobs, with 26% of those surveyed ranking it top ahead of wind power (21%) or hydro power (18%).
However, passing the legislation will not be an easy task, because a group of rebel coalition MPs are set to join the opposition in voting against the bill. It would only take four government MPs to block it, and two have already said 'no'.
"This is a question of responsibility - a security issue - for me," said one of the rebel MPs, Eva Selin Lindgren, pointing to the risks of nuclear proliferation and storage.
Step forward?
The nuclear industry welcomed the bill as a step in the right direction at a time when maintaining the old reactors, some who have been online since 1972, takes increasing effort.
"It's a possibility for us to develop our nuclear business, so we think the bill is a positive step," said Mats Ladeborn, head of Vattenfall's nuclear power activities.
"We are implementing the biggest modernisation in the nuclear history of Sweden. We had planned for the power stations to be running before winter time [but] it took longer than expected and was more complex than we could foresee," he said.
Sweden produces nuclear energy at three plants - Forsmark, Ringhals and Oskarhamn - supplying around 9300 megawatts (MW).
The reactors suffered shutdowns this winter as operators E.ON, Vattenfall and Fortum implement upgrades to boost capacity and safety standards.
Start-up times have been delayed, helping push Nordic spot power prices to a peak of 134.80 euros per megawatt hour in February - four times the average 2009 level.
The bill is not only good news for the industry, however, as it places a bigger burden on owners should things go awry.
If a nuclear accident now occurs, plant owners must cover costs of up to three billion crowns ($421.4 million), while the state covers up to an additional three billion crowns. The new bill quadruples the owners liability to 12 billion crowns.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
