Stockholm, September 29: Uranium mining in northern Sweden is a possibility in the future, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Monday after a meeting with university students. Reinfeldt said that although Sweden was to phase out its current 10 nuclear reactors, the date has been extended, suggesting the need for more fuel.
“I have not ruled it out and I think it is logical” given the extension, he told broadcaster SVT during a visit to Umea University, 650 kilometres north of Stockholm.
Local councils may however veto mining plans, local radio said.
Earlier this year, Reinfeldt and the leaders of the three other parties in his centre-right coalition said they supported replacing Sweden’s current 10 nuclear reactors, revoking a 1980 referendum decision to phase out nuclear power.
The debate about climate change and need to secure long-term energy production forced the re-think.
The government that took office in October 2006 had initially agreed not to discuss building more reactors or decomissioning any of the 10 reactors currently operated during its current four-year term.
Sweden has operated 12 nuclear reactors at most. Two at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, the most recent in May 2005.
–Agencies