Sweden-based small modular reactor project development company Kärnfull Next has announced the municipality of Valdemarsvik in southeastern Sweden as a new candidate site to host up to six reactors, the first of which could deliver electricity in the first half of the 2030s.
The company said it has entered into an exclusive partnership agreement with landowner Latona Group for the exploration rights for nuclear power on the site.
It said a study, expected to be finalised after the summer, has shown promising preliminary results leading the companies to “jointly inform the municipality, site neighbours and now the general public about the plans for an SMR Campus”.
“Location, topography and cooling conditions in a forward-looking municipality with extensive rural areas are examples of early indications of a positive outcome from the current stage [of the study],” Kärnfull Next said.
“The project in Valdemarsvik offers significant opportunities for local job creation – a single SMR is estimated to create around 500 direct and indirect jobs per year for 70 years.”
The SMR park in Valdemarsvik is initially planned to host between four and six small light-water reactors, adding between 10-15 TWh of clean firm electricity production per year. As a reference, Sweden’s existing nuclear fleet produced 47 TWh of electricity last year, Kärnfull Next said.
Kärnfull Next has been carrying out site selection and feasibility studies in several municipalities in Sweden since 2022.
The company is working with reactor companies and utilities including GE Hitachi, developer of the BWRX-300 SMR, and Finnish state energy company Fortum to develop and package ready-to-build projects.
In 2022 Kärnfull Next said it had signed an agreement to work with GEH on the deployment of its BWRX-300 SMR technology in Scandinavia. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with Fortum to jointly explore opportunities for developing SMRs in Sweden.
Kärnfull Next said it offers “versatile energy hubs” that can be sited either on or offshore. For offshore delivery the hub will be delivered as a barge assembled in shipyards.
The company is aiming to bundle SMRs with solid oxide electrolysers to provide electricity and clean hydrogen.
The site could be home to a ‘campus’ of up to six SMRs. Courtesy: Kärnfull Next.
