Nuclear project company Videberg Kraft - owned by Vattenfall and Industrikraft, with the Swedish state due to become majority owner - selected Rolls-Royce SMR after a three-year process, which involved assessing 75 different options. The final choice was between Rolls-Royce SMR and GE Vernova Hitachi's BWRX-300.
The Videberg Project will be Sweden's first nuclear power plant in more than four decades and will ultimately add about 1.5 GW capacity to the grid. The project is targeting a first operating unit in the mid-2030s.
Sweden has become the third European country to select Rolls-Royce SMR technology, joining the Czech Republic and the UK.
Desirée Comstedt, acting CEO of Videberg Kraft, said: "Rolls-Royce SMR offers a robust network of subcontractors, the majority of which are located in our geographical vicinity. By choosing to move forward with Rolls-Royce SMR, Videberg Kraft and its owner companies also become part of a European programme, where we can benefit from shared experience."
Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce SMR CEO, said: "We are delighted to have been selected by Videberg Kraft as its partner to bring new nuclear power to Sweden. This is a strong endorsement of our transformational approach to delivery of a standardised fleet of SMRs … [and] further demonstrates growing market confidence in our technology."
Anna Borg, Board member of Videberg Kraft and CEO of Vattenfall, said: "Overall, the board’s assessment is that Rolls-Royce SMR is the supplier that can give Videberg Kraft the best pre-requisites for delivering a successful project. The reactor, a pressurised water reactor (PWR), is the same type used at Ringhals today and is a well-proven technology. Moreover, Rolls-Royce SMR has a commercially attractive contractual set-up."
Tom Erixon, Board member of Videberg Kraft and Industrikraft, and CEO of Alfa Laval, said: "Rolls-Royce SMR offers an efficient and industrialised concept that reduces the risk of delays. Videberg Kraft, together with Rolls-Royce SMR, is now paving the way for a new nuclear power on the Värö peninsula - something that would not have been possible without a historically unique collaboration between Swedish industry and the energy sector."
Background
The Rolls-Royce SMR is a 470 MWe design based on a small pressurised water reactor. It will provide consistent baseload generation for at least 60 years. Ninety percent of the SMR - measuring about 16 metres by 4 metres - will be built in factory conditions, limiting activity on-site primarily to assembly of pre-fabricated, pre-tested, modules which significantly reduces project risk and has the potential to shorten build schedules.
In October 2024, Rolls-Royce SMR was selected by ČEZ to deploy up to 3 GW of electricity in the Czech Republic, and ČEZ took a 20% stake in Rolls-Royce SMR. The plan is for the first SMR to be deployed in the area of the Temelín site (which already has two gigawatt-scale VVER-100 units), with futher projects being developed for coal-fired power plant sites, including Tušimice.
In June 2025 Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the UK government's preferred technology for the country's first SMR project. A final investment decision is expected to be taken in 2029. In November the UK government announced that Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, would be the site to host the three Rolls-Royce SMR units. It said the site - where a Magnox plant is being decommissioned - could potentially host up to eight SMRs.
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, from Videberg Kraft for its scheme. Earlier this month Blykalla submitted an application for government financing for its planned power plant in Norrsundet, Gävle, in east central Sweden, comprising six SEALER reactors, which will have a total generating capacity of up to 330 MWe. And last week Studsvik submitted an application to the Swedish government for state support for up to 1,400 MW of new nuclear power, featuring small modular reactors, in the southern part of the country.
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