ABSTRACT

Deciding how to organize the back-end of the nuclear-fuel cycle has nowhere caused such profound political conflict as in Sweden. For nearly 5 years, beginning in 1975, Swedish politics was overshadowed by the problem of nuclear safety, and waste management and disposal. By late 1978 two national governments had fallen over the issue. The culmination of this political strife was a national referendum on the nuclear question in which the people of Sweden voted for a 30-year moratorium on nuclear development, leading to a complete phase-out by 2010.