The application - submitted by project company ReFirm Målma AB - covers a planned small modular reactor (SMR) campus in Valdemarsvik, and was formally submitted to Johan Britz, Minister for Employment and acting Minister for Climate and the Environment.
The SMR campus in Valdemarsvik is initially planned to host between four and six small light water reactors, adding between 10-15 TWh of electricity generation per year. In February 2025, Kärnfull Next announced it had secured land rights for the Valdemarsvik project. The property includes areas that were identified as suitable for nuclear power in studies going back as far as the 1970s.
"This is a clear step from concept to formal permitting," said Kärnfull Next CEO Christian Sjölander. "Sweden needs new dispatchable, fossil-free power – particularly in the south – and this application shows that real projects are now moving forward."
The Valdemarsvik project would be part of Kärnfull Next's ReFirm South SMR programme, aiming to expand carbon-free and dispatchable energy production across southern Sweden.
(Image: Kärnfull Next)
The company has been conducting site selection and feasibility studies in several municipalities in Sweden since 2022. By establishing multiple SMR parks as part of the same programme, Kärnfull Next expects to achieve economies of scale in terms of technology selection, construction partners, power purchase agreements and financing partners.
Kärnfull Next said it plans to submit additional applications for other ReFirm sites later this year.
Last month, the Swedish government announced several proposed measures to make it easier to establish new nuclear power in the country. The new legislation introduces an early-stage government approval process designed to improve predictability and accelerate the deployment of new nuclear capacity.
In March 2022, Kärnfull Next signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy on the deployment of its BWRX-300 in Sweden. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean construction firm Samsung C&T in December 2024 to advance the deployment of SMRs in Sweden.
Earlier this month, Swedish nuclear technical services provider Studsvik announced its acquisition of Kärnfull Next, expanding its role from supporting the world's existing nuclear fleet to also developing new nuclear projects.
In October 2022, Sweden's incoming centre-right coalition government adopted a positive stance towards nuclear energy. In November 2023, it unveiled a roadmap which envisages the construction of new nuclear generating capacity equivalent to at least two large-scale reactors by 2035, with the equivalent capacity of up to 10 new large-scale reactors (which may include small modular reactors) coming online by 2045. A new act on state aid entered into force on 1 August 2025, since when interested companies have been able to apply for the aid.
The Swedish government received the first such application in December to support proposals for either five GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors or three Rolls-Royce SMRs to provide about 1,500 MW capacity at Ringhals on the Värö Peninsula. The application came from Videberg Kraft AB, a project company owned by Vattenfall AB and backed by a series of industrial firms via the Industrikraft i Sverige AB consortium.
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