In what Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB describes as a "historic decision", the municipal council of Östhammar yesterday voted in favour of its planned repository for used nuclear fuel at Forsmark. The final decision to authorise the project will now be made by the Swedish government.

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has sent proposals for three new regulations for formal consultation. The proposed regulations concern the design, analysis and operation of nuclear power reactors and are intended to take effect on 1 January 2022.

Sweden's radioactive waste management company generally meets the legal requirements for ensuring the safe operation of the central interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel (Clab) at Oskarshamn and the SFR repository for low and intermediate-level waste at Forsmark, the regulator said. The Radiation Safety Authority said Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB can therefore continue to operate the facilities until the next overall assessment in 2028.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts today completed a review of the long-term operational safety of unit 3 of the Ringhals nuclear power plant in Sweden. The team assessed the plant's preparedness, organisation and programmes related to long-term operation against IAEA safety standards.

Ringhals AB - operator of Sweden's Ringhals nuclear power plant - has entered into an agreement with national electricity transmission system operator Svenska Kraftnät regarding the availability of unit 1 at the plant. The agreement aims to secure the voltage stability and short-circuit power in the transmission network to handle the operating situation in southern Sweden during the summer.

The Swedish government has approved a Radiation Safety Authority proposal to implement new emergency preparedness zones around nuclear power plants by July 2022. Internal and external emergency zones as well as a planning zone will be set at a radius of 5, 25 and 100 km, respectively.

Finnish utility Fortum and Uniper Sweden have agreed to collaborate on the dismantling of major systems and components at the Oskarshamn and Barsebäck nuclear power plants in Sweden. Fortum was awarded the contract by Uniper Sweden - a Fortum subsidiary - in a competitive bidding process.

Electricity generation is vital in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but scheduled refuelling and maintenance outages at nuclear power plants around the world must still go ahead. Operators are introducing risk-minimising procedures so outages that have been planned years in advance can proceed, while some are being prompted to rethink or extend scheduled outages.

Swedish utility Vattenfall is participating in a study on the deployment of small modular reactors in Estonia. In January, Estonia's Fermi Energia signed Memoranda of Understanding with Finnish power company Fortum and Belgian engineering firm Tractebel to cooperate on the study.

Swedish engineering consultancy company Sweco will prepare the detailed design of the planned used nuclear fuel repository at Forsmark under a contract from waste and fuel management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB. In addition, Sweco will supply the detailed design for the extension of the existing final repository for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste, also at Forsmark.

The Swedish Parliament - the Riksdag - yesterday narrowly rejected a proposal from the nationalist Sweden Democrats party to reverse the planned closure of the two oldest reactors at the Ringhals nuclear power plant. Unit 2 of the plant was shut down at the end of last year, with unit 1 set to close later this year.

Sweden has been a great nation for many decades thanks, not to military might nor financial muscle, but to its energy policy. A leader in sustainable development, the country undeniably proved that it is possible to cut emissions dramatically and increase living standards. And it proved this long before climate change became the political issue it is today, write Agneta Rising and John Lindberg, respectively, director general and writer & analyst at World Nuclear Association.