Sweden is scrapping a ban on new atomic plants and Fortum Oyj, Finland’s biggest utility, bid to build a reactor at home, the latest evidence of a nuclear renewal sweeping Europe to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
France unveiled a project last week to build its 60th reactor and possibly one more after that, while the U.K. is preparing to sell land for new atomic plants, attracting interest from some of the region’s biggest utilities.
“We’re clearly in the midst of nuclear renewal,” Jean- Marie Chevalier, professor of economics at the University of Paris Dauphine, said by telephone today. “But one must not lose sight of the fact that the process will be very, very long.”
Countries are turning to nuclear energy to combat climate change and a possible scarcity of fossil fuels. An expansion will require reversals of long-standing government policies. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party wants to halt planned closures, while Italy has pledged to allow new plants following a 1987 moratorium. The moves are leading to new alliances between utilities such as the takeover last month of British Energy Plc by Electricite de France SA.
Sweden, which almost 30 years ago voted to phase out nuclear power, will allow replacements of its 10 existing reactors after they start to close in about 2020, the government announced today.
Opposition
“We develop and create long-term conditions for nuclear power in Sweden for the simple reason that it’s an active way to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels,” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said at a press conference in Stockholm. “The majority of the increasing electricity production in the coming years will come from renewable energy sources.”
Sweden today said it plans to cut emissions 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
The opposition Green Party said the government’s nuclear plans would likely retard developing other renewable energy and that it maintains that nuclear energy should be phased out. “We can’t expand nuclear power, a development that realistically can’t be complete until 2025 at the earliest,” Green Party leader Peter Eriksson said in a statement.
Fortum, Finland’s biggest utility, also said today it petitioned to build a reactor of 1,000 to 1,800 megawatts by 2020. Teollisuuden Voima Oyj is building Finland’s fifth nuclear reaction in Olkiluoto and TVO and Fennovoima Oy have submitted applications to build a sixth nuclear reactor.
Important Market
“There is an important market being opened,” Pierre Boucheny, an analyst at Landsbanki Kepler, said by telephone today. Construction in Europe is expected to benefit Areva SA, the world’s biggest maker of atomic plants, rival Toshiba Corp.’s Westinghouse Electric Co. and construction companies such as Bouygues SA and Vinci SA as well as turbine-maker Alstom SA, he said.
Fortum rose 51 cents, or 3.4 percent, to 15.65 euros in Helsinki today.
France’s Bouygues and Areva are building the Olkiluoto-3 nuclear plant, which is running behind schedule and over budget. Construction began in 2005 and is about two years behind schedule. The plant, the first of a new design that is supposed to improve safety, is scheduled to begin producing in 2012.
Priority markets for Areva are “big countries with a history of nuclear power,” Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said today in on Radio Classique. “These would be developed countries such as in Europe and the U.S. as well as big emerging countries.”
“Our development has been very strong in recent years due in part to the extraordinary expansion in international markets,” she said.
