Sweden plans to end a 3-decade freeze on building new nuclear reactors, following in the footsteps of other European nations such as the UK, France and Poland. The building freeze goes back to a Swedish referendum in 1980, which expressed support for the phasing out of nuclear power. The referendum came at a time of mounting concern over nuclear safety in the wake of a partial meltdown at a US nuclear plant. This month’s proposal, which needs approval from Parliament, calls for new reactors to be built at existing plants to replace the 10 operational reactors when they are taken out of service.