Norway’s Norsk Kjernekraft has decided to initiate an impact assessment for a site in the municipality of Oygarden in Vestland County as the possible location for a NPP comprising up to five small modular reactors (SMRs).
The company will compile a report for the Ministry of Oil & Energy as the basis for consultation with the municipality, residents and industry. If approved by the ministry, the report and comments will be used to prepare an impact assessment.
The 250-acre site, adjacent to the Kollsnes industrial area, is owned by former mayor of Øygarden, Rolv Svein Rougnø. Norsk Kjernekraft has signed a letter of intent with Rougnø specifying that the site can be acquired for the construction of SMR power plants. According to Norsk Kjernekraft, the site can accommodate five 300 MWe SMRs, which could generate 12.5 TWh a year - almost 10% of Norway's current total electricity consumption.
Norsk Kjernekraft CEO Jonny Hesthammer described this as “another important milestone”. He added: "There are a great many municipalities that are now positive about investigation work being carried out. In this way, concrete knowledge can be acquired which can be used as a basis for decisions about whether nuclear power can be built in the municipality in the future. This must of course be done in consultation with both residents and municipal politicians. Without these being in place, there will be no nuclear energy in the municipality."
Norsk Kjernekraft in 2023 signed agreements of intent to explore the feasibility of nuclear power with a number of municipalities. In June, it signed a letter of intent with TVO Nuclear Services (part of Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj) to jointly investigate the deployment of SMRs in Norway. This related to the possible development of nuclear power in the Norwegian municipalities of Aure, Heim, Narvik and Vardø. In November, it submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Oil & Energy to assess the construction of a SMR power plant in the municipalities of Aure and Heim and is preparing a similar report for Vardø municipality.
Also in November, Norsk Kjernekraft, Østfold Energi and the municipality of Halden founded a new company, Halden Kjernekraft AS, to investigate the construction of a NPP based on SMRs at Halden, where a research reactor once operated.
Norsk Kjernekraft intends to build, own and operate SMR power plants in Norway in collaboration with power-intensive industry. It says it will prepare licence applications in accordance with national regulations and international standards. It will follow the International Atomic Energy Agency's Milestones Approach.
Image: The proposed site in Oygarden (courtesy of Norsk Kjernekraft)
