Sweden's next big nuclear play took a formal step forward on Thursday, September 3, 2026, as Swedish nuclear services group Studsvik signed an agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, GE Vernova Financial Services, DS Investment Partners and Samsung C&T to advance an initial four-unit BWRX-300 small modular reactor project of about 1.2 GW at one of two Swedish sites.
Four BWRX-300 units, one integrated consortium
The exclusive agreement covers Studsvik's ReFirm programme, the multi-site SMR development track added when Studsvik acquired Karnfull Next earlier in 2026. Under the deal, Studsvik will lead permitting, environmental impact assessment, land rights and community engagement, while GE Vernova Hitachi acts as design authority and, together with Samsung C&T, forms the execution team with single-point responsibility for design and construction of the plants. South Korean investment firm DS Investment Partners will lead financing during the exclusivity period, with GE Vernova Financial Services in an advisory role.
Nykoping or Valdemarsvik: two candidate sites
The first four-unit park will be built either on Studsvik's existing licensed nuclear site in Nykoping or at a greenfield site in Malma, Valdemarsvik. Karnfull Next filed the first application under Sweden's new Act on Government Approval of Nuclear Facilities in March 2026, covering an SMR campus initially planned for between four and six light-water reactors in Valdemarsvik. The site decision will be made during the development phase, Studsvik said, with the first unit targeted to enter commercial operation in the mid-2030s.
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BWRX-300 moves from first-of-a-kind toward fleet build-out
GE Vernova Hitachi's BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled natural-circulation SMR that leverages the licensing basis of the ESBWR boiling water reactor. The first BWRX-300 is under construction at Ontario Power Generation's Darlington site in Canada, with completion expected by the end of the decade. Sweden's four-unit ReFirm project would join a growing global pipeline that already includes the SGE consortium's proposal for 14 BWRX-300 reactors across three UK sites and the Tennessee Valley Authority's Clinch River permit in the United States.
"One reactor is a project. Four is the start of an industry," said Studsvik President and CEO Karl Thedeen. Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Ebba Busch called the signing "a clear acknowledgment that Sweden is once again a country where world-leading companies want to develop new nuclear power projects."
Reporting based on coverage from World Nuclear News, GE Vernova News, Power Magazine and PRNewswire.