In this text, from a 2013 anthology about the energy situation, Hans Bergström analyses the direct connection between the handling of energy policy in Sweden and the general political power game. This has been the case since the early 1970s, when nuclear power became controversial. During all these years, there has existed a majority in parliament basically supporting nuclear power. But it has not been able to manifest itself, due to the fact that the governing coalitions have depended upon smaller anti-nuclear parties. To this has been added the problem that the time horizon in power politics is radically shorter than the time horizon for large scale projects in industry.
Plenary lecture at the world energy conference ENC (European Nuclear Society) in Lyon, France, 1990
This was the ”yes-book”, published ahead of the Swedish referendum in the spring of 1980 on the use of nuclear power plants. It argues for the use of the already approved 12 nuclear plants during their technical life time - instead of closing them down within ten years, as was the “no” position in the referendum. In particular, the authors claim that it would be a gigantic economic waste to close down well functioning nuclear power plants, which also make the Swedish electrical production nearly fossil free.