Swedish government unveils plan to scrap cap on new nuclear plants 💙💛

[Celerity]

Sweden will need to build 10 new nuclear reactors by the end of the 2040s, the climate minister told a press conference.

https://www.thelocal.se/20230809/swedish-government-unveils-plan-to-scrap-cap-on-new-nuclear-plants

https://archive.li/kT3os



"The climate transition requires a doubling of the electricity production in the coming 20 years," Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari said. She added that the government believed that new nuclear power equalling 10 conventional reactors would need to go into service in the 2030s and 2040s. Pourmokhtari said the government was therefore moving forward with proposed legislation that would remove a ceiling of maximum 10 reactors in the country and a requirement that new reactors be built in the same locations as existing ones.

The climate minister said these limitations were "in the way of a modern view of nuclear power", adding they would also simplify the process for building new ones. Pourmokhtari said a bill had been prepared to be considered by parliament during the autumn. The Scandinavian country voted in a 1980 non-binding referendum to phase out nuclear power. Since then, Sweden has shut down six of its 12 reactors and the remaining ones, at three nuclear power plants, generate about 30 percent of the electricity used in the country today.

But Sweden has struggled to find viable alternative energy sources to replace its nuclear power, with renewable energies not yet able to fully meet its needs. In 2016, a broad political majority agreed to extend nuclear power for the foreseeable future, paving the way for new reactors to be built to replace the ageing ones at the end of their lifespans. The reactors were opened in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of them have lifespans of around 40 years and are in need of modernisation.

Sweden's Social Democrats – which led the previous government – have traditionally been opposed to building new reactors, while the centre-right has been in favour. Immediately after coming to power in late 2022, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing coalition government announced it was seeking to build new reactors. It has also announced a change to Sweden's energy policy, changing its goal of 100 percent "renewable" energy to 100 percent "fossil-free" energy.

snip


I am in the pro-nuclear power wing of the Social Democrats, my political party, as renewables alone cannot meet the needs, their EROEI is far too low atm, and likely will be for decades

[Chuuku Davis]

1. Good for them

Nukes are the way!

[honest.abe]

2. It does appear that nuclear needs to be part of the solution to our climate crisis.

But is clearly not the ultimate solution for all sorts of reasons.

[Miguelito Loveless]

3. The problem with nuclear reactors is they always take 2-3 times

longer to build than planned, and cost 2-3 times more than budgeted. Meanwhile, renewables/batteries get more efficient and cheaper each year. Then there is the ongoing operation/fuel costs, and the eventual decommissioning cost.

Using the Vogtle reactors in Georgia as a guide, 10 reactors would cost $150 billion and take around ten years to build. $150 billion would buy a hell of a lot of wind/solar/batteries.

[Celerity]

4. The Swedish energy infrastructure is far less corrupt and far more efficient than the US's, and

renewables are just not that viable as the sole (or main) path forward atm.




See DUer NNadir's journal for a massive amount of articles (many of them of a highly in-depth scientific nature) and documentation backing up my postings:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/~NNadir

[Elessar Zappa]

6. Good for Sweden!

Every country in the world needs to go on a building nuclear reactor spree. And it should start yesterday.

[Eko]

7. Of course I am rabid anti-nuclear

activist and want to kill hundreds of thousands of people because I believe we need to use everything we can to get out of this crisis including renewables and nuclear. At least that is what someone keeps telling me.

[Tarc]

8. Good. The anti-nuclear movement is a sad vestige of the 60s-70s.