Studsvik picks GE Vernova Hitachi, Samsung C&T for four Swedish BWRX-300s

Studsvik AB announced on September 3, 2026 that it has selected GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Samsung C&T as partners for an initial four-unit BWRX-300 project of approximately 1,200 MWe in Sweden, to be built at either Studsvik's existing licensed nuclear site in Nyköping or the Målma site in Valdemarsvik, with the first unit expected in operation in the mid-2030s. GE Vernova Financial Services and DS Investment Partners, a Seoul-based investment firm, round out the consortium, the release says. The agreement is exclusive for a fixed period the parties may extend, and it "does not constitute a final investment decision or authorisation to construct."

Which of the two sites hosts the first project "will be decided during the development work," so the announcement fixes the reactor, the vendor, and the builder before the location. That is less strange than it sounds: each site already has an application in front of the Swedish government, and the announcement is the next step in a program that predates Studsvik's ownership of it. The release also states that the agreement is not expected to have any material financial impact on Studsvik's 2026 earnings, which is what a development agreement for 1,200 MWe of nuclear looks like from the accounting side.

The program is called ReFirm, and Studsvik acquired it with Kärnfull Next (KNXT), a Swedish SMR project developer, earlier in 2026. Per the release, KNXT had worked with GE Vernova Hitachi on BWRX-300 deployment in Sweden since 2022 and signed a teaming agreement with Samsung C&T in December 2024, so the September 3 selection formalizes relationships that were already in place. Studsvik's own news post on the announcement describes the goal as "up to 1.2 GW," a hedge the full release drops in favor of "approximately 1,200 MWe."

The roles are spelled out. Studsvik leads permitting, the environmental impact assessment, site rights, community engagement, and dialogue with the Swedish state. GE Vernova Hitachi leads reactor design, licensing support, and cost estimation, acts as design authority, and together with Samsung C&T forms the execution team with single-point responsibility for design and construction delivery. During the exclusivity period DS Investment Partners leads the investment and GE Vernova Financial Services advises on financial structuring. A joint project company for development, financing, construction, ownership, and operation is to be established under definitive agreements still to be written. The four-unit, phased structure is meant to standardize across units and to build a Swedish supply chain that can serve follow-on projects; Studsvik CEO Karl Thedéen's version is shorter: "One reactor is a project. Four is the start of an industry."

Neither site is approved. On March 23, 2026, KNXT's project company ReFirm Målma AB submitted what KNXT described as the first application under Sweden's new Act on Government Approval of Nuclear Facilities, covering an SMR campus at Målma outside Valdemarsvik. On May 25, 2026, Studsvik applied to the government to establish between 600 and 1,400 MW of new nuclear capacity at and around Nyköping, calling the filing "the beginning of a long-term permitting process." Neither company's news pages report a government decision on either application. The release calls Nyköping an existing licensed nuclear facility, but the same release says the agreement is not an authorisation to construct, and Studsvik's May post described a permitting process that was only beginning. The release summarizes the legal backdrop as legislation in force since 2026 that permits reactors at sites beyond Sweden's three existing plants and requires government approval for each one.

The state money behind it

The same sentence in the release points to "a state financing framework of loans and two-way contracts for difference," and that framework is why a nuclear services company of roughly 540 employees is talking about four reactors. According to World Nuclear News, reporting on September 22, 2025, Sweden's parliament approved state aid for new reactors in May 2025; the loans are limited to the equivalent of four large-scale reactors, about 5,000 MWe, support requires reactors at one location totaling at least 300 MWe, and the two-way contracts for difference can be signed once a reactor is operating and licensed at full capacity. The act took effect on August 1, 2025. WNN reported that the 2026 budget bill sized the framework at expected lending of SEK 220 billion (USD 23.4 billion) over 12 years plus price hedging averaging SEK 1–3 billion per year for 40 years after the reactors start, that agreements can be signed in 2026 and 2027, that each deal needs European Commission approval, and that the government aimed to handle applications corresponding to about half of the total support in 2026.

Studsvik is in that queue. On June 12, 2026, the company handed an application for state support to Niklas Wykman, Sweden's Minister for Financial Markets, describing an ambition of up to 1,400 MWe across ReFirm's southern Swedish sites, with Valdemarsvik and Nyköping the most mature. Four BWRX-300s at roughly 1,200 MWe clear the 300 MWe floor four times over and would take roughly a quarter of the capacity the loan cap covers. Studsvik is not the only applicant with the same reactor in mind: as of WNN's September 2025 report, Vattenfall had shortlisted the BWRX-300 and the Rolls-Royce SMR for new units at its Ringhals site and planned its own risk-sharing application. GE Vernova Hitachi CEO Jason Cooper, in the release, pointed to the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Canada as the source of lessons for the design; Samsung C&T's boilerplate cites 12 GW delivered across 10 nuclear units, including Barakah in the UAE.

Outlook

The next observable milestones are the ones the documents name: a site decision during the development work, definitive agreements and the joint project company, and a government answer on the June 12 state-aid application. If the government's stated aim of handling about half the support envelope in 2026 holds, and given that WNN reported agreements can be signed in 2026 and 2027, a decision on Studsvik's application could plausibly land within that window, though nothing in the record commits the government to a date. The mid-2030s target for a first unit depends on approvals that do not yet exist at either site, and the release's own language, exclusive but not binding, leaves the investment decision to a later document.