The country voted in a 1980 non-binding referendum to phase out all 12 nuclear reactors by 2010, but that target was abandoned in 1997 after officials acknowledged that the availability of sufficient energy sources to replace the output from the nuclear plants was unrealistic.

Unable to present any viable alternatives, the minority Social Democratic government said Friday it had agreed with the ex-communist Left party and the Center party to negotiate with Swedish energy companies on when they would shut down their plants and how they would be compensated for doing so.

Presenting the details of the accord, Industry Minister Bjoern Rosengren said it would "take time to find alternative energy sources, and I think it will be 30 to 40 years before nuclear power can be phased out."

The timeframe and the decision to allow the nuclear industry to set the conditions of the phase-out sparked outrage from the Green Party.

"There is no agreement to phase out nuclear power. All there is is a loose idea to look into the possibility to reach a voluntary agreement with the nuclear power industry," party leader Matz Hammarstroem said.

Even Prime Minister Goeran Persson said he was caught off guard by Rosengren's reference to a 40-year phase-out.

"I've spoken to Bjoern about that and I think that was more of an opinion from his side," Swedish news agency TT quoted Persson as saying from Barcelona where he was attending an EU summit.

"We don't have the political support for 40 years," he added.

But Persson refused to expand on what he considered to be a more realistic time frame for shutting down the nuclear reactors.

"I don't know when, we are going to negotiate with the nuclear industry about that. They are going to be allowed to determine the pace, but not the time frame for the entire process," he stressed.

Nuclear power accounts for just under half of Sweden's electricity supply.

Under the agreement, which is similar to an accord reached in Germany in 2001 on phasing out nuclear power, negotiations between government and industry are to take place in 2003-2004.

The two sides will agree on how long each nuclear reactor will remain in use and how much electricity each reactor will generate before it is phased out.

The agreement also calls for the production of renewable energy to increase from the current six terrawatt hours, of a total of 150, to 16 terrawatt hours in the next eight years, and stipulates that a certain quota of all electricity bought by consumers must come from solar or wind power or biofuels.

A system of so-called "green certificates" will also be introduced, whereby electricity suppliers who buy renewable electricity must also buy a green certificate for each megawatt hour sold.

Producers are thus paid twice -- once for the electricity and once for the certificate -- a system designed to compensate for the higher cost of renewable energy.

The country's two main electricity companies, Vattenfall and Sydkraft, said they were open to negotiations with the government, and welcomed the announcement on the future of nuclear power.

Only one of Sweden's 12 reactors, the 600-megawatt Barsebeck plant, is now closed, with plans to shut a second one by 2003.

EU Presses Bulgaria Over Nuclear Plant Closure
In separate developments, the European Union's chief negotiator with Bulgaria insisted Monday that Sofia must close four ageing reactors at its sole nuclear plant, as agreed in an accord letting the country begin EU membership talks.

Bulgaria agreed to close down the reactors at the Soviet-built Kozloduy power plant, which produces nearly half the impoverished country's power, before it was allowed to begin membership negotiations with Brussels in 1999.

"I underline the importance that we attach to the commitments that we made at the start of accession negociations," said Michael Lee after talks with Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg.

"I also underline the support which the EU is providing in this context," he added.

Bulgaria pledged in 1999 to shut down the oldest units at Kozloduy, two 440-Megawatt units, by 2003, while saying it would agree on a date for closing units 3 and 4 this year. Brussels wanted them closed in 2006, while Sofia wants to keep them operating until 2008-10.

Under the 1999 accord, Bulgaria was offered 200 million euros in aid from 2000-2006, although half of this will be confirmed by the European Commission after an agreement on the closure date for units 3 and 4 at Kozloduy.

The Kozloduy plant also has two newer 1,000-Megawatt reactors, which it agreed to modernize further with 250 million euros in credit from Brussels.

Kozloduy currently produces 45 percent of the country's energy. In 2001, Bulgaria exported some seven billion kilowatts (KwH) to its Balkan neighbours.

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