Sweden's government ended negotiations on Monday into breaking up the joint ownership of the country's nuclear power plants. The Swedish Competition Authority had called for the end of co-ownership of the plants to improve competition in the energy market, and talks had been underway for over two years.


Sweden's three nuclear power plants - Oskarshamn, Ringhals and Forsmark - are held by various combinations of EOn, Fortum and Vattenfall. The three-unit Oskarshamn plant is owned jointly by EOn (54.5%) and Fortum (45.5%). The four-unit Ringhals plant is 70% owned by Vattenfall and 30% owned by EOn. Meanwhile, the three-unit Forsmark plant is owned by all three companies: Vattenfall (66%), Fortum (25.5%) and EOn (8.5%).


While the authority said that it had no evidence of illegal cooperation between the part-owners, it said that there is "considerable danger that information will be unlawfully exchanged between competing enterprises."


In a statement, the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications said: that present owners have the responsibility to create professional codes of conduct to increase transparency and reduce joint ownership will lead to anticompetitive effects.


"This is preferably done in dialogue between relevant authorities, large and small buyers, and other stakeholders," added the Ministry.