The debate among the major Swedish political parties over the nuclear program had been intensified throughout the 1970s . In 1973 , the ruling Center Party declared that it was against Sweden 's nuclear power program , thereby letting the coalition government to become a leader in the anti-nuclear movement aimed at the program 's complete elimination . The Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979 undermined public confidence in the safety of Sweden 's nuclear program . The aforementioned political and societal divisions over the Swedish nuclear program led to a referendum on the subject held in 1980 . “ The referendum was of a non-binding , " advisory " nature and voters who supported nuclear energy were not given the choice to do so . The referendum 's result heavily favored option two , 39.1 percent of the votes , and option three , 38.7 percent of the votes , with option three receiving 18.9 percent of the 4.7 million votes cast , representing a 75.7 percent voter turnout . ” The 1980 referendum induced the Swedish parliament to decide that Sweden 's nuclear power program should be “ phased-out ” by 2010 and no further nuclear power plants should be built . That decision made the Swedish government the first out of five governments that have approved a national nuclear phase-out policy : Belgium , Germany , Italy , and Spain
Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
Swedish nuclear weapons program