Norsk Kjernekraft has submitted a proposal to Norway’s Ministry of Energy for an assessment to construct a NPP based on multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) in the municipality of Øygarden in Vestland county. The report with the proposed study programme was sent to the Ministry of Energy and other responsible authorities, including the Directorate for Radiation Protection & Nuclear Safety (DSA), and the Norwegian Environment Agency.
The Ministry will send the report out for consultation, and then the municipality, residents and industry will be able to make their comments. If approved by the ministry, the report and input will form the basis for an impact assessment.
The proposed site is an area of up to 101 hectares on Buneset island, 600 metres south of the transformer and the gas processing plant at Kollsnes. This came after the company launched an impact assessment of a plot of land in Øygarden in April to assess the possibility of establishing a nuclear plant comprising five SMRs.
The site is owned by landowner and former mayor of Øygarden, Rolv Svein Rougnø, who earlier entered into a letter of intent with Norsk Kjernekraft. The scope of the proposed study programme submitted to the Ministry of Energy is limited to assessing the social and environmental effects of construction, operation and decommissioning of plant.
Norsk Kjernekraft said the location could utilise the existing and planned network infrastructure in the Bergen area. The power plant will enable the electrification of oil and gas installations, the establishment of new industry and safeguarding security of supply. With five 300 MWe SMRs, the site has the potential to generate 12.5 TWh a year, corresponding to almost 10% of Norway’s current total electricity consumption.
Norsk Kjernekraft noted that Vestland county is the region in Norway with the highest greenhouse gas emissions. Large projects are planned for new power consumption in the county, among other things to electrify the oil and gas installations. Øygarden municipality already has a large power deficit, and this will increase as a result of planned electrification projects and the establishment of new industry.
“This marks yet another important milestone for Norsk Kjernekraft, and it is the third notification sent to the Ministry of Energy,” said the company’s CEO Jonny Hesthammer. “The power plant will produce electricity regardless of the weather, thereby improving security of supply throughout the country.”
Norsk Kjernekraft is seeking to build, own and operate SMR power plants in Norway in collaboration with power-intensive industry and has signed a raft of agreements. In July the company entered into a cooperation with Lyngdal municipality in southern Norway’s Agder county to investigate a possible future small NPP in the area. This came just a few days after it signed a similar agreement with the nearby municipality of Farsund, also in Agder county
The previous week, Norsk Kjernekraft had signed a cooperation agreement with Lund municipality in the southern county of Rogaland for the establishment of a nuclear plant in anticipation of increased power demand.
June saw the company submit a proposal to the Ministry of Energy for an assessment into the construction of a power plant in the north-eastern county of Finnmark. The previous year, Finnmark’s Vardø municipality and Norsk Kjernekraft had signed an agreement to prepare a report with proposals for a study programme after Vardø proposed nearby Svartnes as a possible NPP site.
Agreements were signed with a number of municipalities in 2023. In June 2023 a letter of intent was signed with TVO Nuclear Services (part of Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj) to jointly investigate the deployment of SMRs in Norway. This included the possible development of nuclear power in the municipalities of Aure (Møre og Romsdal county), Heim (Trøndelag county), Narvik (Nordland county) and Vardø. The following November, Norsk Kjernekraf submitted a formal proposal to the Energy Ministry to assess the construction of a SMR power plant in Aure and Heim.
Hesthammer said the report on Øygarden would also be “an important part of the knowledge base for the government’s announced investigation into nuclear power in Norway”. In June, the Norwegian government appointed a committee to conduct a broad review and assessment of various aspects of a possible future establishment of nuclear power in the country to be completed by 1 April 2026.
