The owners of decommissioned Swedish nuclear power plant Barsebäck want to build a new facility, says Barsebäck Kraft Chief Executive Åsa Carlson to domestic state broadcaster SVT.

”We currently have insufficient energy in Scania [in southern Sweden], and we want to help solve the problem,” Carlson says.

According to plan, the new power plant will be located near the town of Kävlinge, approx. 15 kilometers inland from Barsebäckshamn on the western coast.

The Barsebäck plant has been shut down since 2005.

But the energy crisis has provided wind in the sails of the closed plant’s owners.

Uniper owns the facility and subsidiary Barsebäck Kraft, and plans to establish a new atomic energy plant.

The vision is for a new power plant to be ready some time in the 2030s, and the owners say the new Swedish government seems curious to know more of these plans.

”There are positive signals coming from the new government,” Carlson tells SVT.

Right now, demolition of Barsebäck’s reactors one and two is in full swing. According to SVT, the work is expected to continue until 2028. After that, the facility’s buildings are slated to be removed.

But already prior to the completion of the demolition process, Uniper means to build a so-called Clean Energy Park, planning for research and development within new fossil-free energy. The ambition is to bring together nuclear, wind, solar and hydrogen power.

According to Carlson, there are still no firm plans as to how big the facility planned by Uniper for construction in Scania will be. It could be a full-scale nuclear power plant or a smaller reactor.

Atomic energy has been a hot political topic in Sweden for years.

Most political parties agree that nuclear power must be part of the country’s energy supply for now.

It is the rules and the matter of whether to increasingly bank on nuclear that are causing disagreement.

Today, three power plants – with a total of six active reactors – are in commercial operation.

Four reactors closed during the government term of the Social Democratic Party, which has just been replaced by a right-wing government.

This wing has previously said it would improve conditions for nuclear power plants and provide billions of kronor in credit guarantees for new reactors.

Vattenfall eyes opportunities in Swedish nuclear bet

German chancellor extends life of nuclear power plants