The current plans for new nuclear power in Sweden are too small to cover the costs of all the nuclear waste that will arise from the planned reactors. Vattenfall is not satisfied with the allocation.
The state-owned energy giant is in negotiations with the government about financing a project with 3–5 new smaller reactors on the Värö Peninsula, where Ringhals is located today.
"We submitted an application before Christmas and now the discussion and negotiation with the state is ongoing," says Vattenfall's CEO Anna Borg.
Just their part
"For us, it is important that the terms we receive in that negotiation are good enough for us to be able to invest," she continues.
She points out that it is important Vattenfall only bear its share of the costs for the final repository, not the share of other actors.
In doing so, she indirectly says that the plans for new nuclear power are currently too small.
Is the program too small now to cover the costs?
"It is clear that there are economies of scale if several nuclear power projects are built. But we are focusing on our project," says Borg.
Reviewing the question
Do we need more companies to come in and build to share the costs?
"I don't really have any insight into what other applications may or may not be on the way. In that case, they will come from other companies," she says.
"But what is crucial for Videberg Kraft (the company that Vattenfall, industry and the state will jointly own) is that we do not have to bear more than our pro rata share of the cost of the final repository," the Vattenfall manager continues.
Minister for Financial Markets Niklas Wykman (M) says at a press conference that negotiations with Videberg Kraft have just begun and that the waste issue needs to be addressed.
