Sweden debates restarting military nuclear program

Discussions are underway in Sweden about reviving a military nuclear program, though experts acknowledge the significant difficulties such a move would entail, The Times reports.

The newspaper recalls that in March, the leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, said that, given the current security situation, it was time to revisit work on a nuclear programme Sweden secretly developed after World War II.

Weeks later, Robert Dalsjo, a researcher at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOA), told The Times that Stockholm should consider “creating an independent nuclear weapon with a Swedish component.”

The position is reportedly shared by MEP Alice Teodorescu Mawe, who represents the governing Christian Democrats in the European Parliament. She argued that Sweden should play a role in developing a joint European nuclear strategy.

However, the paper notes it is unclear whether Sweden has the technological or industrial capacity to produce nuclear weapons without substantial assistance from an existing nuclear state.

The article also reminds readers that Sweden operates six nuclear power plants supplying nearly a third of its electricity, but the last plant was built some 40 years ago.

“It would be a very large industrial project,” Martin Goliath, a nuclear weapons expert at the FOA, said. “A lot needs to be developed, not least the entire infrastructure to produce the materials needed for a nuclear weapon, which would require large investments. I think it would be almost impossible to lay down the resources.”

By Vugar Khalilov