How is nuclear waste management to be financed?

Managing nuclear residual products is a commitment that extends over a very long time. The Debt Office is responsible for securing the financing of nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel. This is ultimately to protect future taxpayers.

Nuclear waste fee finances

Reactor owners and other licence holders are obligated under the Financing Act to provide for the future measures necessary to handle and dispose of nuclear residual products, the decommissioning and demolition of the plants and the research required to enable this. The Debt Office has the overall responsibility to ensure the payment liability of the nuclear industry and to monitor the proper functioning of the financing system.

It is the polluter who pays – not future taxpayers.

For this reason, these companies must pay annual nuclear waste fees and provide financial collateral to the Nuclear Waste Fund. The collateral is to cover the fees that have not yet been paid. Reactor owners must also provide additional collateral so that the obligations can be fulfilled with a high degree of probability. The fees and collateral are fixed in three-year cycles.

Fees are paid by the reactor owners and other licence holders. The fees are calculated and levied in relation to the energy supplied. The fee can also be determined as an amount in SEK, for example for a licence holder who no longer supplies nuclear energy.

The Debt Office shall propose the levels of the nuclear waste fees and the collateral to be provided by the reactor companies, which the Government then decides on before each fee period. The current period covers the year 2024. For licence holders that are not reactor owners, the decision is made by the Debt Office.

Table 1. Nuclear Waste fees 2024, credit risk and risk magins for permit holders with nuclear reactors
Permit holders with nuclear reactorsNuclear waste feesCredit risk amount (SEK million)Risk margin (SEK million)Pledged collateral 1 (SEK million)
Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB  4,5 öre/kWh  5 934 19 144  21 319
OKG AB (Oskarshamn)  7,5 öre/kWh  6 112 10 356 14 741
Ringhals AB  8,6 öre/kWh  8 150  17 049 20 065
Barsebäck Kraft AB (BKAB) SEK 264  million per year  722 4 145 3 052

1The current collaterals are pledged according to previous credit risk amounts and risk margins. The work with collaterals according to the newly decided amounts is in progress.

Table 2. Nuclear waste fees, credit risk amounts and pledged collateral for permit holders without nuclear reactors
Permit holdersNuclear waste fee 2023-2025 (SEK thousand)Credit risk amount (SEK thousand)Pledged collateral (SEK thousand)1
AB Svafo 254 680 709 687 603 034
Vattenfall AB (regarding Ågesta Kraftvärmeverk)  43 804  122 062 0
Ranstad Industricentrum AB  0  0
Ranstad Mineral AB  0  0 0
Studsvik Nuclear AB 6 138 118 651 171 577
Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB 4 273 80 690 94 623
Cyclife Sweden AB 2 833 55 920 67 789
Chalmers University of Technology 103 2 000 1 857
 Total 311 831 1 089 010 938 880

1The current collaterals are pledged according to previous credit risk amounts. The work with collaterals according to the newly decided credit risk amounts is in progress.

Disbursements from the Nuclear Waste Fund

The proceeds in the Nuclear Waste Fund amounted to SEK 82.5 billion at the end of 2021. The Debt Office decides on disbursement and application. Funded fees may be used by the payer to finance costs incurred in calculating the fees. The funds may also be used to cover certain costs of research and development, supervision by governmental authorities, examination of issues, management of funds, support for municipalities, etc.

Table 3. Disbursed 2021 and 2022 and approved 2023, SEK million 
 RecipientDisbursed 2021Disbursed 2022Approved 2023
SKB, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company  1 406,6 1 217,8  1 548,4
Barsebäck Kraft AB  474,0 548,5 490,4
OKG AB  475,8 429,1 523,3
Ringhals AB 255,0 480,0 612,0
AB Svafo 164,0 187,6 182,6
Vattenfall AB (regarding Ågesta Kraftvärmeverk) 133,0 - 105,0
Studsvik Nuclear AB 10,8 8,8 9,5
Östhammars kommun 4,7 4,4 2,9
Oskarshamns kommun 2,0 2,5 2,1
Ranstads industricentrum AB (RIC) 1,5 - -
Cyclife Sweden AB 1,1 2,2 2,9
Region Kalmar län 0,3 - -
Länsstyrelsen Västra Götalands län 0,2 0,2 0,2
Uppsala universitet - 0,3 -
Sum 2 929,0 2 881,4 3 479,3

Financial sustainability of the collateral

When the nuclear companies propose financial collateral to cover the fees not yet paid, and so that the liabilities can be completed with a high probability, it is the responsibility of the Debt Office to assess the value of the proposed collateral. The Debt Office then presents the results of the assessment to the Government. For reactor owners, the collateral consists of guarantees by the owners of the nuclear power companies (parent company guarantee).