SWEDEN - The Swedish government has announced that the 600MWe Barsebäck 2 nuclear power reactor will be shut down by 2005 at the latest.
The timetable for closure of the Swedish reactors has come under doubt recently as months of dry weather have severely depleted hydropower reservoirs in Sweden and elsewhere in the Nordic region, sparking worries about electricity shortages. An opinion poll in January showed that a majority of the Swedish people favoured keeping the country¹s nuclear power plants, and possibly even building new ones, as electricity prices in the deregulated Nordic market soared to all-time highs. Spot market prices have fallen from their January peaks, but remain historically high.