Don't let the uranium ban hold back nuclear power
It is not possible to want to make ourselves independent of Russian energy and at the same time say no to uranium mining in Sweden. It is time for new nuclear power, and it is time to tear up S and MP's ban on mining Swedish uranium. This is written by Susanna Silfverskiöld.
SUSANNA SILVER SKIELD
DECEMBER 15, 2022
New nuclear power means more uranium. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
It is well known that the previous government consisting of the Social Democrats and the Green Party over the past eight years saw to the decommissioning of four of the country's nuclear power reactors. Less discussed is another nearby decision: in 2018, uranium mining was banned in Sweden. It is as backward as it is injudicious.
Sweden is to build new nuclear power. We are not alone in that. Putin's invasion of Ukraine has made it clear that Europe needs more emission-free and reliable energy production that operates independently of rogue states.
The EU is to get rid of Russian energy but continues to import Russian uranium - it must not pass.
In step with Russia's escalated warfare against Ukraine, where the energy issue is used as a weapon against both Ukraine and the EU, the West is trying to get rid of Russian oil and gas. At the same time, the import of Russian uranium to European nuclear power plants continues. It doesn't have to stay that way.
Large parts of Europe's uranium resources are found in Swedish bedrock. According to the Land and Environmental Court, this is as much as 80 percent. And the fact is that Sweden is the country in Europe with the largest supply of uranium. The only thing required for that uranium to be mined is a decision in the Riksdag.
After all, it is not possible to honorably oppose Swedish and European energy dependence on Russia with one hand, and say no to allowing uranium mining in Sweden with the other hand. Nevertheless, this is exactly how large parts of the Swedish Parliament act.
The parties behind the Tidö Agreement are positive about lifting the uranium mining ban, but the more nuclear-critical parties, including the Social Democrats, are against it.
As you know, the Tidö parties have a majority in the Riksdag and therefore need neither the Social Democrats, the Center Party, the Left Party nor the Green Party with them. But it is strange when S and C, who speak warmly of a broad energy agreement and long-term energy policy conditions, oppose something as fundamental as allowing companies to mine the fuel that nuclear power requires - when the fuel is available right here.
Even when the proposal to ban uranium mining was under consultation, several consultation bodies, including the Norwegian Agency for Community Safety and Emergency Preparedness (MSB), warned of the ban's consequences for Sweden's electricity supply out of preparedness.
When nuclear fuel is banned from mining in Sweden, we have to rely on others.
The fact that nuclear fuel is prohibited from mining in Sweden means that we have to rely on uranium mining in other countries. A country with nuclear power as a crucial part of the energy mix, combined with a ban on domestic production of nuclear fuel, inevitably means an inherent security policy vulnerability. For a functioning energy supply is a vital part of every country's critical infrastructure. When Europe is living in the consequences of Putin's energy war as a means of power, no one can doubt that matter anymore.
But just like mining other assets, the issue also has a moral and environmental aspect. When an activity is banned in Sweden, it does not disappear - it takes place elsewhere. Another place that in the vast majority of cases cannot measure up to Sweden's internationally very high environmental requirements and good working conditions. Namibia or Kazakhstan, for example.
Nuclear power must form the basis of Sweden's electricity production.
When the ban on Swedish uranium mining was hammered through in the Riksdag, the energy agreement was alive, with the goal of 100 percent renewable electricity production by 2040. In pure Swedish: by 2040, nuclear power would be decommissioned. With the new bourgeois government, that objective is gone. Nuclear power should not only continue to be part of Sweden's electricity production. Nuclear power must form the basis for it.
Former energy minister Annika Strandhäll, who expressed that "nuclear power is not the melody of the future", has been replaced by energy minister Ebba Busch, who, in stark contrast, stated that "The best time to build new nuclear power was yesterday, but the next best time is tomorrow." Thus, the time has come to dismantle the backwards ban on uranium mining. It should be obvious.
(20min delay)