Nuclear power developer Norsk Kjernekraft has signed a cooperation agreement with Lund on establishing a nuclear power plant in the municipality in the southwestern county of Rogaland.
The development follows an announcement last month that the Bergen-based company had submitted a proposal to Norway’s energy ministry for an assessment into the construction of a power plant based on multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) in the county of Finnmark, northern Norway.
The latest collaboration agreement means the first steps towards the realisation of nuclear power in Lund can begin, Norsk Kjernekraft said.
Suitable areas for reactor deployment need to be identified and then an impact assessment must begin, Norsk Kjernekraft said.
The mayor of Lund, Gro Helleland, said the area has industrial plans that will require enormous amounts of energy and “it became natural for us to obtain more information about the various alternatives that existed”.
She said: “Gradually it became clear that modern nuclear power, so-called small modular reactors, not only have the lowest lifetime emissions of greenhouse gases, but will also use far less nature than the alternatives.
In November, Norsk Kjernekraft submitted a proposal to the energy ministry for an assessment into the construction of an SMR plant in the municipalities of Aure and Heim in southwestern Norway.
In March 2023, it signed an agreement with UK-based with Rolls-Royce SMR to work together to increase acceptance of nuclear power in Norway, and to potentially establish future projects that “could lead to the deployment of Rolls-Royce’s small, modular nuclear power plants in Norway”.
Norsk Kjernekraft said it had seen “a rapid and positive turn” in favour of considering nuclear power in Norway. The company said it was “already in dialogue” with politicians from a number of parties and perceives them to be interested in learning more. “That includes the governing parties,” the company said.
Norway has never had commercial nuclear power plants, but has operated two research reactors for the production of medical radioisotopes and research purposes.
