THE WAY OUT-OF-THE-WAY OUT

Sweden is among the countries with the world's highest per capita energy consumption, and a large part of Swedish industry is very energy intensive. 51% of the country's electricity is generated in hydroelectric plants, 45% in nuclear power plants (1989). After a referendum held in 1980 under the impact of the TMI-2 accident, the government decided to decommission the twelve nuclear generating units in the country gradually by the year 2010. To this day it has not been possible to achieve a political consensus about the timetable of this phase-out or about the sources of energy to replace nuclear power. In the most recent Swedish Energy Program, the parliamentary decision of 1988 to decommission two nuclear generating units in 1995 and 1996 was revoked. When and at what rate nuclear power will be cut back has been made to depend on the outcome of the Energy Conservation Program, the supply of environmentally acceptable energy sources, and the possibilities to maintain internationally competitive electricity rates.