The Swedish Parliament on Thursday narrowly approved government plans to replace ageing nuclear power plants with new ones, overturning a 30-year-old ban on new nuclear reactors and marking a change in the country’s policy of phasing out atomic power.
The Riksdag voted by a narrow 174-172 margin in favor of replacing Sweden’s existing 10 aging reactors, overturning a 1980 referendum to gradually phase out the use of nuclear power, and adding to the renewed momentum behind atomic power in Europe as countries try to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
The new legislation will allow construction of new reactors at only existing sites from January 1 next year with the condition that the number of reactors should not exceed 10.
The close vote is a clear indication of the deeply divisive nature of the nuclear issue and it looks set to be one of the major poll plank as the center-right bids for a rare second term in the September general election. Meanwhile, the center-left Opposition has vowed to reverse the legislation if it wins the elections.
The legislation paves the way for Sweden to join a growing list of European countries opting for new nuclear plants and highlights a softening in attitudes toward atomic energy across the environmentally-conscious Nordic region.
The Swedish vote comes close on the heels of the decision by neighboring Finland to build two new reactors in addition to one already under construction.
The incumbent center-right government proposed last year that existing atomic power stations be replaced by new ones when they get too old after two members of the four-party coalition reversed their anti-nuclear stance.
Critics of nuclear power have said that the development of renewable alternatives will suffer if new reactors are built, while supporters of the government proposal argue that the 1980 referendum never specified how nuclear energy should be replaced.
Sweden’s existing 10 nuclear reactors, which produce about half of the country’s electricity, are due for decommissioning from 2020 onwards.
