Swedish-UK nuke power deal goes bust
So far the Swedish government has kept pretty quiet about the state-owned energy company Vattenfall’s plans to buy up British Energy, a nuclear power company. But now Industry Minister Maud Olofsson has brought Vattenfall’s acquisition plans to a halt, splitting the governing Alliance parties in the process.
The Liberal Party spokesman Carl B Hamilton is critical of Olofsson’s decision to halt the acquisition. Speaking to Dagens Industri newspaper on Friday, he said that it would be better for the environment if Vattenfall invested in nuclear power. The best scenario would be if Vattenfall could replace some Sweden's older power stations.
The Moderate Party’s spokesman Björn Hamilton also voiced his concern for the matter whilst the Christian Democrats did not want to comment directly on the matter.
According to Dagens Industri, Olofsson is meant to have ordered Vattenfall not to go ahead with the acquisition on Monday. However, neither Maud Olofsson’s press secretary Frank Nilsson nor Vattenfall’s former head of the board Dag Klackenberg want to make any comment on the last-minute decision at this point. There has been no comment as to whether the reasons are business or policy related.
British Energy is 35 percent state-owned and runs eight of the UK’s ten nuclear power stations. Speaking to TT back in November, Vattenfall´s former head of information Martin May said that the company had a lot of interest in the British market and already had two offices there.
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The Liberal Party spokesman Carl B Hamilton is critical of Olofsson’s decision to halt the acquisition. Speaking to Dagens Industri newspaper on Friday, he said that it would be better for the environment if Vattenfall invested in nuclear power. The best scenario would be if Vattenfall could replace some Sweden's older power stations.
The Moderate Party’s spokesman Björn Hamilton also voiced his concern for the matter whilst the Christian Democrats did not want to comment directly on the matter.
According to Dagens Industri, Olofsson is meant to have ordered Vattenfall not to go ahead with the acquisition on Monday. However, neither Maud Olofsson’s press secretary Frank Nilsson nor Vattenfall’s former head of the board Dag Klackenberg want to make any comment on the last-minute decision at this point. There has been no comment as to whether the reasons are business or policy related.
British Energy is 35 percent state-owned and runs eight of the UK’s ten nuclear power stations. Speaking to TT back in November, Vattenfall´s former head of information Martin May said that the company had a lot of interest in the British market and already had two offices there.
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