Sweden scraps talks on reactor co-ownership.

Plans to end joint ownership of Sweden's nuclear reactors ended without changing the three electrical giants' configurations. 

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  Forsmark nuclear power station in Sweden.

• 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.

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  Vattenfall's Forsmark nuclear power station, one of three active nuclear power plants in the country.

• 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.