"Shut-down next year" for Sweden's Barsebäck nuclear power station

Environment Daily 1740, 05/10/04

The Swedish government has decided to close down the remaining operational reactor at its Barsebäck nuclear power station next year. Industry minister Leif Pagrotsky set the deadline on Monday after the government abandoned long-running talks with power firms aimed at agreeing a "German-style" agreement on phasing out all Sweden's nuclear stations.

Sydkraft, Vattenfall and Fortum, the three power firms that had been negotiating with the government, expressed surprise at the government's move. The key stumbling block had been how early the phase out should begin, Swedish industry ministry official Lars Andersson told Environment Daily. Mr Pagrotsky said that the government would also now decide within three years whether more of Sweden's oldest reactors should be closed.

Although Sweden voted in a referendum in 1980 to replace nuclear power with renewable energy sources by 2010, that deadline has receded as successive governments struggle to find substitutes for the 11 remaining operational reactors, which produce nearly half the nation's electricity supply.

Denmark has been campaigning for a complete shut-down of Barsebäck, which is only 20km from Copenhagen, since 1987; but closure of Barsebäck's second reactor has been repeatedly delayed as negotiations with the industry dragged on.

Follow-up:

Swedish industry ministry http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/1470