Swedish state must share risk of new reactors – Vattenfall
(Montel) A preliminary study into new nuclear construction carried out by Vattenfall in Sweden found government aid was essential to encourage investment, the utility said on Monday.
Reporting by: Anton Tigerstedt
“To achieve large-scale production regardless of technology, government support will be needed for the first units. Someone needs to take the risk with the first reactors, and risk costs money,” the company’s head of new nuclear projects, Desiree Comstedt, told Montel.
Since last year, Vattenfall has been researching the building of new nuclear reactors in Sweden, and its initial findings show it would be possible to build 3-5 small-scale reactors (SMRs) or one large-scale reactor with a total output of 1.5 GW close to its existing Ringhals plant.
An investment decision would only be possible once there was a long-term political agreement on a Swedish nuclear power programme, Comstedt said.
“A fair risk-sharing agreement with the government is also a necessity, regardless of whether we build SMRs or conventional reactors, as well as a financing model for a new final repository for spent fuel,” she added.
She declined to comment on the details of what financing model Vattenfall – which is wholly owned by the Swedish state – would prefer.
“We think that an ongoing government investigation must be allowed to run its course, but of course we have a dialogue with them and want to see a risk-sharing model that is adapted to the Swedish system,” Comstedt said.
Vattenfall CEO Anna Borg previously said it was not possible to invest in new nuclear on purely commercial terms.
3-4 GW needed
A national nuclear programme would have to include several reactors totalling at least 3-4 GW to cover the costs of a final storage site for nuclear waste, the study said.
These should be built in three phases to gain experience from the first projects, Comstedt said.
She declined to provide a figure for the total cost of a new reactor but said Vattenfall had “a good idea” of costs after surveying suppliers and contractors as part of the study.
The company was planning on holding consultations with local interest groups near Ringhals later this year as part of preparations for a potential environmental impact assessment.
Last September, Vattenfall started buying property around the site with the possible construction of new reactors in mind.
“We are committed to the goal of having a new reactor in operation at the beginning of the 2030s,” Comstedt said.