It was recently announced that the Norwegian government had appointed a panel to assess the expediency of developing nuclear power in the country. The report with conclusions is expected by April 1, 2026.
It is very likely that the conclusion will be positive. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the EU’s refusal to buy Russian gas and oil, Norway’s role in the European energy market has increased significantly. The EU countries consider the important player in this market not only as a supplier of hydrocarbons but also as a supplier of energy. The Union’s demand for electricity generation is growing.
Now, 88% of Norway’s electricity is generated by hydropower plants and another 11% by wind turbines. Thus, it turns out that there are no other resources to increase producing. There will be no more rivers in Norway and wind power plants have many different limitations. NPPs look very attractive in terms of the price-quality ratio. Moreover, the “Greens” are not dangerous anymore because in 2022, the European authorities blessed nuclear power.
So, we have to say again, there is a great chance to get a positive conclusion. But where could the relevant technologies be found? Norwegians do not have them because the country abandoned plans to develop its own nuclear industry about 50 years ago for environmental reasons. There is the obvious decision – cooperation with Rosatom. But it is out of the question for Norway because of political reasons; the country is a partner of Ukraine and an adversary of Russia.
There are suppliers of the nuclear technologies among Norway’s allies, but obviously in this case Norwegians will take the risk. These suppliers of ready-made package solutions are not ideal. The Japanese with their Fukushima and the Finns with their OL3 will not let you lie.
Sweden has the same problems without an obvious solution too. Last November, they decided to build two reactors by 2035 and ten by 2045. This is in addition to the six reactors operating at the existing NPPs. Who among Rosatom’s competitors could build properly so many reactors for such a short time?
Finland also has ambitions nuclear plans. Two Finnish NPPs, Loviisa and OL3, have already produced more than 40% of the country’s electricity and in the future this figure will increase due to the construction of home-made low-power NPPs. And never mind that OL3 has constant malfunctions and other problems. To be correct, it is important but because of another reason.
It turns out that in 20 years, all Scandinavian countries are going to intensively use the nuclear technologies. However, they do not have such technologies yet and their partners are unreliable if we take into account the case of Finnish OL3. Therefore, it’s time for Europe and Russia to think about environmental and radiological safety. All these reasons are enough for Russians and Europeans to be worried about having an “Arctic Chernobyl” or an “Arctic Fukushima” on their doorstep.
Additionally, there is another disturbing fact that the activity of Norway, Finland and Sweden in the field of nuclear energy gives them an opportunity to develop their military nuclear technology. If these countries get comprehensive nuclear technologies, they will also get the ability to make nuclear warheads. This is a very disturbing precedent if we consider the extremely dangerous processes in Europe and the existing geopolitical turbulence. Moscow will probably see it in such a way. And, undoubtedly, Russians will not pass this process by.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.