Sweden is preparing a legislative project that would allow the construction of more nuclear power plants to increase electricity production in the Scandinavian country and strengthen its energy security, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Wednesday, Reuters quoted him as saying.

Kristersson has made expanding Sweden’s nuclear power capabilities a key focus of his government, the first right-wing executive since Stockholm in eight years, seeking to reverse a decades-long process of phasing out more reactors that has forced the country to rely more on less predictable renewables.

Sweden’s energy balance is largely made up of nuclear, hydropower and renewables, with energy prices also rising in the Scandinavian country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, albeit to a much lesser extent than elsewhere.

New legislation proposed by Kristersson’s government, which still needs a vote in parliament, would allow new nuclear reactors to be built in several locations in Sweden starting next year.

“We have a clear need to generate more electricity in Sweden,” Kristersson said during a press conference on Wednesday.

“What we’re doing today is changing the law to allow more nuclear reactors to be built in more places,” he announced, adding that the bill repeals existing rules that limit the country’s total number of reactors to 10 and ban construction. new ones in places different from those where there are already plants.

Sweden abandoned the construction of new nuclear power plants in the 1980s

Sweden decided to abandon nuclear power after a referendum held in 1980, which also proposed closing all nuclear power plants by 2010.

However, the closure decision was reversed in 1997, and today about half of the electricity produced in Sweden comes from nuclear power plants.

The two parties that formed the previous government of former prime minister Stefan Leuven, the Social Democrats and the Greens, oppose the opening of new nuclear plants, saying Sweden needs more efficient and faster energy sources.

Loewen himself said that restoring nuclear power would be too expensive and take too long.

But the project proposed by Chief Kristersson opens the door to building smaller nuclear reactors, which many consider the most cost-effective option.

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