Stockholm, Aug. 15 (EIRNS)—The Swedish inventor, Prof. Janne Wallenius proposes building 150 small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in Sweden to expand the safe baseload of electricity and in due time replace the seven remaining Swedish nuclear reactors. In an op-ed in Svenska Dagbladet, on Aug. 11, together with Lars-Evald Kaliff, he takes up the crisis in Swedish power production caused by the introduction of unstable wind power. After closing one nuclear plant Jan. 1, 2020, in order to stabilize the power system, Sweden was forced this summer to restart the oil-based reserve power plant, which is otherwise only used in very cold winters.
The op-ed proposes construction of the genial, passively safe lead-cooled reactor SEALER developed by Wallenius at the KTH Royal Technical Institute in Stockholm. This reactor, producing between 2 and 200 MW, could be built and online in two years, instead of the normal seven years for the current large reactors. It can be transported by road and after 10-30 years of service (depending on size and availability) could be transported back for removal of the spent fuel. The fuel is never replaced during operation. With its breeder technology the reactor could also use the available spent fuel from the current storage, vastly expanding its use.