The application is the first for new reactors in Sweden that the government has handled in over 50 years, according to Johan Britz.
We need to expand nuclear power significantly, he tells TT.
The government's goal for new nuclear power is 2.5 gigawatts in additional capacity by 2035. And the government has introduced financing mechanisms totaling SEK 220 billion to support this development.
Requires municipal decision
The application - formally from the Kärnfull Next company Refirm Målma AB - seeks municipal approval and then government approval, under a new law, before the significantly more costly steps of environmental permits, radiation safety testing and construction are taken.
It is based on the local population being on board and approving this. That is where the municipality's decision comes in, says Britz.
The small modular light-water reactors that Kärnfull Next now wants to build outside Valdemarsvik are planned to have a combined output of approximately 1,200-1,600 megawatts. This can be compared to the output of Sweden's largest reactor today, Oskarshamn 3, which is approximately 1,450 megawatts.
If everything goes smoothly with permit review, financing and construction, John Ahlberg - co-founder and strategy director at Kärnfull Next - hopes that it will be possible to press the start button for the first SMR reactor outside Valdemarsvik within ten years.
We have a lot of great operator companies in Sweden - in the Nordics - that like to operate reactors and do it properly, Ahlberg answers when TT asks who will actually get to press the start button.
“There are quite a few interested parties”
Karl Thedéen, CEO of Studsvik, adds:
We already know that there is quite a lot of interest - from North America, from Europe - to come and operate if the deal looks good. So that's not my biggest concern.
The cost of the project and what the final ownership structure will look like are questions that neither Studsvik nor Kärnfull Next can answer now. Much will be decided when the financing gets underway.
According to Britz and Ahlberg, the site covered by the application has already been identified by the state-owned Vattenfall as a possible location for nuclear power reactors.
We think it's a suitable place, says Ahlberg.
Facts: Several new nuclear power projects underway
Sweden currently has six larger, traditional-type nuclear power reactors in operation in Forsmark, Ringhals and Oskarshamn.
The Kärnfull Next company Refirm Målma AB - about to be acquired by Studsvik - has now submitted an application to the government to build a facility with 4-6 small modular reactors (SMRs) a little over a kilometer southeast of Valdemarsvik.
Videberg Kraft AB - with the state-owned energy group Vattenfall and Industrikraft i Sverige AB - has previously initiated a feasibility study and applied for government support to build 2-3 SMR reactors at Ringhals. However, they have not yet submitted an application for a permit for the reactors to the government.
The nuclear engineering company Blykalla announced earlier this week that it intends to apply to build six SMR reactors in a nuclear power plant in Norrsundet, Gävle.
Sources: Kärnfull Next, Government
