Half of Sweden’s nuclear reactors shut down due to safety fears

Stockholm – The price of electricity on the joint Nordic electricity bourse rose Thursday on the news that five of Sweden’s 10 nuclear reactors were offline.

Low water levels in the country’s hydroelectric dams were also a factor, analysts said, after a 2.4-percent increase on Wednesday’s average spot price on the Nord Pool that trades in power between Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Regulatory authorities said they did not expect a power shortage in Sweden, noting the situation would have been worse if it had occurred during the winter.

Four of Sweden’s 10 nuclear reactors were offline Thursday as part of reviews of their backup systems, while a fifth reactor was shut down for regular maintenance work.

The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) said it had received reports from the operators of the plants, including the Forsmark nuclear power plant where the incident occurred last week.

Two of four backup generators malfunctioned after the reactor shut down, and technicians investigating the fault believed it was linked to electricity supply from the network.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur