Sweden has closed its Barseback 2 nuclear reactor, two years behind schedule, and 25 years after Swedes voted to stop using atomic energy. Danes celebrated the shutdown, as Barseback lies just across the Baltic Sea from their capital, Copenhagen, Reuters reported. Sweden took the decision to phase out nuclear power in 1980, when anti-nuclear protest was at its peak. However, concerns about global warming have led many to reconsider the case for nuclear energy. Although Denmark remains nuclear free, Sweden's northern neighbour Finland is building its fifth nuclear reactor, due to come online in 2009. The Swedish state company Vattenfall, which runs Barseback, says it will invest SEK8bn ($1.09bn) to build the biggest wind farm in northern Europe. It hopes it will produce two terawatt hours per year from 2010. Barseback produced double that, and Sweden used 148 terawatts hours last year. A third of Barseback's 348 employees will keep their jobs for the time being, and the plant will not be knocked down until at least 2020.
