nuclear power and the zero carbon emissions objective in Sweden and Italy

In the name of energy transition, Sweden has decided to reinvest in nuclear power. Italy sees it as a way to respect its climate objectives and further reduce its dependence on Russian gas, without taking the plunge.

Last week, the Swedish Parliament approved the Nuclear Revival Bill. Supported by the right-wing and far-right coalition, the return of investments in nuclear power in Sweden is a 180-degree turn for this Nordic country, which had decided to give up the atom during a referendum in 1980. This This turnaround is justified by the strong climate argument. Sweden was one of the 22 signatory countries on Saturday December 2 at COP28, alongside France, to call for “triple the capabilities of nuclear energy” in the world by 2050, compared to 2020. It is also a way to protect ourselves from the coal factories restarted by Germany, or from the dependence on Russian gas that countries like Italy still suffer from.

In Sweden, 10 power plants by 2045

Nuclear power is popular because demand for electricity is increasing sharply in Sweden. The country must double its production by 2045, to allow industries to decarbonize and to meet the demand for electric cars, which already represent 75% of the market here. The government is therefore banking on an expansion of 2,500 megawatts by 2035, which is equivalent to the production of two conventional nuclear power plants. But he estimates that 10 will be needed by 2045.

Parliament therefore validated the government’s roadmap. A new law, which comes into force on January 1, removes a certain number of constraints and a nuclear coordinator has been appointed to study the entire implementation. In particular, it must present a risk-sharing plan between the State and industrialists, facilitate procedures to accelerate nuclear development, anticipate the industry’s needs in terms of labor, or even plan for an increase in costs. nuclear waste in the future.

As for citizens, according to the latest survey published in November, 56% of them are in favor of this recovery. It is not an overwhelming majority, but Germany, which had abandoned nuclear power by restarting its coal-fired power stations, has become a counter-example for Sweden. The right-wing coalition was recently joined by the social democrats. Only the left-wing parties and the Greens are absolutely against atoms and regret that wind power is today being abandoned in favor of nuclear power.

In Italy, pro-nuclear people regain influence

For its part, Italy, which has not had a nuclear power plant since 1990, is still considering relaunching this sector to meet its climate objectives and further reduce its dependence on Russian gas. Currently, 16.5% of its energy consumption comes from renewable sources, but around 75% comes from hydrocarbons, which are massively imported. Although dependence on Russian gas has been greatly reduced for almost two years, the race for the energy transition is not really underway. So Giorgia Meloni wants to explore all solutions and calls for “an ecological transition and not an ideological one”. Thus Italy is once again interested in nuclear energy as a source of energy. This would involve agreements with producing countries, for example France, but also through the in-house manufacturing of small reactors and research into nuclear fusion, nuclear energy without radioactive waste.

At the moment, we see in Rome a rather pro-nuclear majority, but the last of the four Italian nuclear power plants closed 33 years ago. Italy abandoned the atom via two referendums, one after Chernobyl in 1987, the other after Fukushima in 2011. According to the latest survey, there are today a quarter of Italians resolutely against nuclear power. ‘atom, a quarter resolutely for. There remains a half who wants us to explore this avenue. But the proportion of “for” immediately decreases when it comes to building a power plant near one’s home.