Last Updated on December 11, 2022
As Europe continues to deal with an energy crisis with winter officially just days away, Sweden is looking towards nuclear energy as a viable alternative to Russian oil. Heavy sanctions on Russian oil have led to massive increases in fuel prices and shortages across the continent, prompting European Union leaders to revisit power sources they have sought to move on from, such as nuclear power and coal.
Tobias Billström, who currently serves as Sweden’s minister of foreign affairs, told Fox News News that his government believes it needs “to step up when it comes to building more nuclear power” because Sweden is a small nation and needs “safe, clean, secure energy” that is “cheap.”
“We want to see more nuclear reactors being built,” Billström said during an interview at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington, D.C. “We’re talking about doing this with a system of credits, but we’re in close collaboration and contact with Swedish industry to be able to finance the building of new nuclear reactors.”
Many European nations have opted to move away from nuclear power over the past decade. Germany previously motioned to close its nuclear power plants, though calls have grown to keep remaining power stations operational past 2023 due to the ongoing energy woes. Germany has been particularly hard-hit by the crisis due to its previous dependence on Russian oil.
France has taken a different route, however, instead opting to commission the building of new nuclear power stations. The country currently has more power plants operational than nearby Germany, who will be counting on electricity exports from France in the coming months. Maintenance issues have led to a number of French nuclear power plants being shut down, however, though the government is working hard to bring them back online to deal with expected shortages.
Germany’s Minister of State, Tobias Lindner, recently told Fox News that “resistance against nuclear energy” is “part of the DNA of German society.”
He ultimately stated that Germany has not reconsidered its position on nuclear power, arguing that the nation would be trading dependence on Russian oil for dependence on Russian uranium. Germany imported 35% of its natural gas from Russia prior to the conflict in Ukraine, which is now down to 3%, Linder said.
The German minister added that he still believes the nation can get by with “wind and solar” alternatives in the future.