Sweden Lifts Ban on Nuclear Energy

Nicolas Loris / February 05, 2009

The AP reports:

The Swedish government agreed Thursday to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors, saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases.

Sweden is a leader on renewable energy but is struggling to develop alternative source like hydropower and wind to meet its growing energy demands. If parliament approves scrapping the ban, Sweden would join a growing list of countries rethinking nuclear power as a source of energy amid concerns over global warming and the reliability of energy suppliers such as Russia. Britain, France and Poland are planning new reactors and Finland is currently building Europe’s first new atomic plant in over a decade.

Swedish public opinion polls have shown growing support for nuclear energy in recent years because of the lack of alternatives.”

This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Countries setting ambitious renewable standards also have the challenge of meeting rising energy demands and are realizing it cannot be done without nuclear.

More on Finland’s reactor here. More on what the United States can learn about nuclear from other nations here.