“We need this expertise to analyse the role of nuclear power in Sweden’s future”

The funding from the Swedish Energy Agency for Academic-industrial Nuclear technology Initiative to Achieve a sustainable energy future (ANItA), a national competence centre, has been extended for a further five years, from 2027 to 2031. The director of the centre is Sophie Grape from Uppsala University. She is a senior lecturer in applied nuclear physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and brings together partners from academia and industry.

Sophie Grape at a seminar in Almedalen 2026.

In its evaluation of ANItA's first project period which ran from 2022 to 2026, the Swedish Energy Agency wrote that "the centre is effectively building the required expertise among doctoral students, researchers and partners, and its activities are highly participatory, which strengthens trust and cooperation between academia and industry." Are there any concrete results to report?

"We have documented results in the form of scientific publications, arranged conferences and events, a relatively large number of recruited doctoral students and postdocs, outreach activities, and a broad and active circle of partners. Our plan for the first five years was to start up and carry out seven doctoral student projects and seven postdoc projects at the higher education institutions involved: Uppsala, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Chalmers University of Technology.

"Although we are approaching the end goal of several of these doctoral student projects, the activity as a whole has not yet been brought to a successful conclusion since it turned out to be a challenge to recruit the right candidates initially. But we have learned a lot from the first five-year phase. Now we know what the cooperation between the academic partners and industry partners should look like. We will be building on the first five years and also employing new doctoral students and postdocs at all three higher education institutions."

Why is a competence centre like ANItA needed?

"Unlike other competence centres that have been started, this centre is focused on nuclear power and on building the requisite expertise for the construction of new nuclear power. This expertise is particularly in demand now that Vattenfall's and Industrikraft's nuclear power company Videberg Kraft has chosen Rolls-Royce as its supplier for new nuclear power on the Värö Peninsula, next to Ringhals. We also have a number of municipalities that have indicated their interest in new nuclear power. So we are going to need this expertise to analyse the role of nuclear power in Sweden's future, and to procure, purchase, construct, operate, supervise, regulate and ultimately phase out nuclear power."

Will you be changing the work being done in ANItA in the future?

"For the first five years, we have had a very clear focus on small modular reactors or SMRs, and we intend to keep that focus. But we will also broaden to include research on large-scale nuclear power that may be built in the future, whether in the form of small or large reactors.

"What I think is particularly exciting is of course that this period in which our funding has been extended overlaps with a supplier having been chosen by Videberg Kraft and also investment decisions on new nuclear power plants that are planned for this period. So it's very, very relevant. I also hope that we can have an open dialogue and communication with those who want to build SMRs in Sweden."

Anneli Björkman