In Sweden, today it is forbidden to mine uranium, even though Sweden is considered to have several of Europe’s best uranium resources. The ban is based on the extensive environmental impact the extraction process risks entailing.
Uranium for Swedish nuclear power plants is bought today mainly from Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. When more and more politicians are now talking about both continuing to push forward and building new Swedish nuclear power plants, the question of Swedish uranium mining is being raised again.
The four parties on the right are far from as united about uranium as they are about the nuclear power plants themselves. The Sweden Democrats want to see Swedish uranium mines, but the Liberals give the thumbs down to that proposal:
– We see no need for Swedish uranium mines, we have good cooperation with other countries, says Liberals party leader Johan Pehrsson
All four parties on the right want to lift the formal ban on uranium mining. Among other things, to make it possible to use uranium that exists as a by-product at existing mines. But the Moderates today speak cautiously about large-scale uranium mining.
– We don’t think it will be about pure uranium mines. Currently, the availability of uranium from democratic countries is not a problem, says Carl-Oskar Bohlin, the Moderates’ energy policy spokesperson.
“Uranium mining part of nuclear power”
In Jämtland, uranium mining has been the subject of several times when, not least, foreign companies were prospecting and test drilling. But there the parties locally agreed across block boundaries that they did not want to see uranium mining.
The parties on the left side are very doubtful about uranium mines.
– The Green Party does not want uranium to be mined in Sweden. Uranium mining is among the most toxic activities there is, which is one of the reasons why we want to switch from nuclear power to renewable energy as soon as possible, says Per Bolund, spokesman for the Green Party.
The centre, which for several years has believed that it is the market that should decide whether new nuclear reactors are built or not, also completely rejects the idea of uranium mines.
– We have said no to Swedish uranium mining. The mining that was done in Sweden in the 70s at Billingen shows how serious environmental problems it entails, says Rickard Nordin, the center party’s climate policy spokesperson.