pwr_october-2023 - 12

GLOBAL MONITOR
European Union's uranium deposits. The
country currently extracts uranium as a byproduct
during the mining of other metals.
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, in
a recent address to the country's parliament,
said of the government's moves,
" This creates the conditions for nuclear
power. We need more electricity production,
we need clean electricity, and we
need a stable energy system. "
Sweden at present receives about
98% of its power from nuclear, wind,
and hydro. There are currently six reactors
in operation at three sites (Figure
2). Mariano Grossi, director general of
the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), speaking in late August during an
official visit to Sweden, said, " For more
than half a century, Sweden has been
one of the leaders internationally when
it comes to nuclear technology. It is now
taking steps to facilitate a new expansion
phase to meet an anticipated rapid
growth in the demand for electricity to
power its economy. It is a frontrunner in
the clean energy transition, already relying
almost exclusively on nuclear, hydro,
and renewables for its energy needs. "
Grossi, who met with officials in Stockholm
in his first visit to Sweden since
taking office four years ago, said, " My
discussions in Stockholm with senior government,
regulatory, and industry officials
have demonstrated a shared understanding
that the world needs more nuclear energy
to be able to fight the climate crisis
effectively. Reliably generating dispatchable
power 24/7, nuclear is an ideal partner
to wind and solar. The IAEA is following
developments in Sweden with great interest
and stands ready to provide any
support that may be requested. I'm very
encouraged by what I'm seeing here. "
Nuclear power provided about 30% of
Sweden's electricity last year. Officials in
promoting nuclear power have said the
technology will count toward the country's
goal of producing all its energy from
renewable resources by 2045. " Sweden
is looking to double its electricity production
while cutting down on fossil fuels. The
only way that plan can work is another
source of energy is easily available and is
both bountiful and efficient enough to effectively
substitute for LNG [liquefied natural
gas] or oil. Nuclear is the only form of
energy that can meet that level of demand
in the foreseeable couple of decades, "
said Irina Tsukerman, president of Scarab
Rising and a geopolitical analyst. Tsukerman
also said the use of domestically produced
uranium as fuel will be important,
telling POWER, " The plan on lifting the
12
2. The Forsmark nuclear power plant, shown
here, has three boiling water reactors and
produces about one-sixth of Sweden's electricity.
The units, with total generation capacity
of about 3,300 MW, were commissioned
between 1980 and 1985. Sweden has six
operating nuclear reactors, including two at
the Ringhals plant, and one at Oskarshamn.
Courtesy: Vattenfall
ban on mining uranium is pragmatic and
necessary to meet the volume of nuclear
energy demand arising from this plan. "
Jerrold Vincent, co-founder of U.S.based
Nuclearn.ai, a group working on
artificial intelligence for the nuclear industry,
told POWER it's not surprising
Sweden wants to expand its nuclear
power fleet. " With its large clean power
generation capacity, nuclear power is an
important part of a diversified, economical,
and sustainable clean energy mix, "
said Vincent. " Technological progress in
advanced reactor design, small modular
reactors [SMRs], and improvements in
administrative operations using artificial
intelligence are continually driving down
costs while improving safety. "
Vattenfall, Sweden's state-owned utility,
has said it is looking at building at
least two SMRs, and is prepared to extend
the operating life of the country's
existing reactors as part of the nuclearfocused
strategy. Anna Borg, Vattenfall's
CEO, said the SMRs could be built near
the Ringhals nuclear power plant, while
noting that " all fossil-free energy types
will be needed to meet the increasing
demand for electricity in Sweden. "
Vincent also reiterated that support
for domestic mining of uranium will be
important. " Sweden has the largest
quantity of uranium deposits in Europe,
presenting a unique opportunity to insulate
themselves from other fuel sources
whose price and availability have been affected
by recent geopolitical instability, "
he said. " There's no serious conversation
about the future of clean energy that
doesn't involve nuclear-and Sweden is
uniquely well-suited to take advantage. "
Scott Holcombe, vice president of engineering
for Lightbridge, told POWER,
" Sweden has been a strong nuclear
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power country for decades without mining
their local uranium, " but noted that
" having a domestic supply of uranium
would be beneficial for any country's
domestic nuclear industry. " Holcombe,
formerly a nuclear fuel performance engineer
for the Tennessee Valley Authority,
said it's likely Sweden would look
for reactor technologies from the U.S.,
France, and South Korea. " Sweden is
in the process of joining NATO; reactors
from Russia or China are at a strong
disadvantage compared to other reactor
vendors, " he said. " I believe the utilities
must follow any applicable national and
EU [European Union] capital investment
regulations and go through a normal bid
process where they consider reactors
from several reactor vendors before they
select the final candidate(s). "
W.A. " Art " Wharton III, a nuclear professional,
and CEO and president of Studsvik
Scandpower, a Swedish nuclear reactor
software analysis company, told POWER,
" The timing of Sweden's reversal of four
decades of poor nuclear policy coincided
with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As the
Swedes grapple with the realities of providing
a robust and reliable electricity and
district heating supply, their need to replenish
the retiring nuclear fleet became
clear and unambiguous once it became
apparent that it could not be made up
with more hydro, wind, or solar. Relying
on nuclear energy provides Sweden with
the most energy independence and robust
and reliable supply of energy for the
changing world dynamics. "
Wharton continued, " Sweden is a very
practical nation and will likely look toward
newer LWR (light water reactor) technologies
including large and small modular reactors,
but the recent focus appears to be
on SMRs. One recent partnership of note
is Kärnfull Next with GE Hitachi for the
potential to build BWRX-300 units [Figure
3] at the Studsvik site. Additionally, they
have new reactor technology companies
in Sweden including Blykalla [literal translation:
" lead cold " ] which is developing a
Gen IV reactor using molten lead coolant.
U.S. nuclear companies have a strong
footprint in Sweden, so they'll likely be
involved in one or more of the projects. "
Wharton, who prior to joining Studsvik
Scandpower worked at nuclear giant
Westinghouse Electric Co. for more than
a decade, said, " The grid in Sweden is
deregulated since 1996, but electricity
prices are high right now. For long-term
capital investments such as nuclear power
plants, surety of price will be a key
factor for investors. " Grae told POWER,
POWER | October 2023
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PWR_ October-2023

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