Sweden is a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), being one of the 44 listed countries needed to sign and ratify for the CTBT to enter into force.

There are 10 nuclear reactors operating in Sweden; two were closed as a result of a referendum in 1980. The referendum and subsequent Parliamentary Act called for the closure of the existing reactors at the end of their operating life, at that time assumed to be 25 years, therefore the total phase-out of nuclear by 2010. However, this timetable has now been dropped and a more flexible approach is being taken by the governing coalition.

While no reactors will be closed, planning of new units is not on the agenda during the coalition's first term. However, several major reactor upgrades will be undertaken.

In July 2006 two reactors at the Forsmark nuclear plant were shut down after two backup emergency generators malfunctioned during a power failure. Four of Sweden's ten nuclear reactors had to be shut down for up to three months after the incident.

In Novemebr 2006, fire of an "explosive nature" at reactor No. 3 in Ringhals shut down Sweden's largest nuclear power plant.

In March 2007 the Christian Democrats changed their policy to explicitly disown the phase-out and allow for new reactors being built after 2010.

Read the profile on Sweden from the Model Nuclear Inventory (pdf), produced by the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.