Tidigare har kärnkraftspolitiken i Sverige legitimerats genom att kärnkraften framställts som det enda energislaget som både är koldioxidneutralt och effektivt nog att förse den svenska industrin med el till konkurrenskraftiga priser. Eftersom kärnkraften under de senaste åren utsatts för allt hårdare konkurrens från effektiv och koldioxidsnål förnybar energi finns det goda skäl att förvänta sig att den senaste förändringen av svensk kärnkraftspolitik - beslutet att avskaffa effektskatten - legitimerats genom nya sätt att skapa mening kring kärnkraften och kärnkraftspolitiken. I den här studien undersöks därför hur beslutet att avskaffa effektskatten legitimerades inom den energipolitiska policyeliten och hur det skiljer sig från tidigare sätt att legitimera kärnkraftspolitiska beslut. 12 semi-strukturerade intervjuer och ett textmaterial bestående av 13 remissvar, en statlig utredning och en politisk överenskommelse har analyserats med hjälp av Carol Bacchis ”Whats the problem represented to be?”-metod samt ett poststrukturalistiskt metodologiskt och teoretiskt ramverk. Studien visar i likhet med forskning från andra länder där kärnkraft utsatts för hård konkurrens från förnybar energi att ett nytt sätt att framställa kärnkraften, där den framställs som nödvändig för elsystemets tekniska funktionssätt på grund av dess förmåga att leverera effekt, blivit det mest centrala sättet att legitimera kärnkraftspolitiken inom policyeliten i anslutning till avskaffandet av effektskatten. Studien visar även att ett nytt sätt att legitimera kärnkraftspolitik med hänvisning till att undvika snedvridande ingrepp i elmarknaden återkommer inom policyeliten, men att det finns olika bilder av vad som utgör ett snedvridande ingrepp. Framställningen av kärnkraften som koldioxidneutral framstår som mindre central än tidigare.

Svenska kraftnät is responsible for the operation and development of the Swedish transmission grid. A large number of substations in the transmission grid are approaching their expected service lifetime and must be renewed in the coming years. When renewing substations, total and partial outages in operation are often unavoidable. These outages may cause downtime for any party connected to the substation, whether it be an electricity generation or consumption. A solution is to build a new substation while the old is still in operation. Upon completion, a transfer of operation can be done from the old to the new substation. This however requires laying claim to new land, which affects the local environment and can be a time-consuming process. In an effort to minimise the need for planned outages during substation renewals, Svenska kraftnät wants to investigate techniques for bypassing substations while also allowing the connected party to remain in operation. This thesis has evaluated two differing techniques that allow for substations and any connecting parties to remain mostly in full operation during station renewals. One technique involves constructing a temporary switchgear compartment using air-insulated apparatuses to bypass the station and connect the third party. The other technique uses a mobile gas-insulated switchgear to achieve essentially the same arrangement.  After studying cases where either technique has been employed in station renewals, it was concluded that a solution utilising air-insulated apparatuses is better in several aspects. While the two technologies achieved similar results, the air-insulated technology did so at a lower cost, offered more flexibility, and was easier to integrate into pre-existing stations. Furthermore, the gas-insulated technology required more specialised competence, possibly limiting the availability of qualified contractors. It was concluded that bypassing stations during renewal projects could provide several benefits in terms of less downtime and economical losses, while also minimising the need to claim new land. In order to optimise the method a supply of air-insulated apparatuses and construction materials necessary for the bypassing of a station should be established by Svenska kraftnät. This, mostly reusable, equipment would then be on stand-by, ready to use in future station renewals.

Svenska kraftnät is the transmission system operator in Sweden, their responsibilities include renewing and expanding the existing transmission system to keep up with the rising demand for electricity. The ongoing climate crisis demands the process of expanding the transmission system to be as sustainable as possible. One way to do this is to use CEEQUAL, a point based, third party sustainability assessment tool for construction projects. The aim of this project is to estimate what CEEQUAL score the projects of Svenska kraftnät could achieve based on their current sustainability work. The aim also includes to determine what actions needs to be taken to improve that score, together with a cost analysis and interviews of the experiences from other CEEQUAL users.  By studying the sustainability work of Svenska kraftnät and translating this to CEEQUALs credits, a calculation of the current level of sustainability was determined as 44 percent. This equals the CEEQUAL level Pass. Further investigation revealed that to improve to the level Good, there needs to be more clear goals for a project sustainability and a business model for a circular economy among other things. For a higher score, reaching the level Very Good, there needs to be a life cycle analysis for new construction projects and better CO2-emission calculations.  A cost analysis revealed that it is hard to determine the cost of using CEEQUAL beforehand due to unforeseeable costs. Interviewing external users of CEEQUAL shows that using CEEQUAL is beneficial to improve the sustainability of a project and creates a common goal for the team members. A downside to using CEEQUAL is the administrative work it demands as well as the bureaucracy.  All in all, using CEEQUAL in all Svenska kraftnäts construction project could not be seen as beneficial. It would be beneficial to create a decision report tool for projects that help teams make sustainable choices for the projects. This would preferably be done together with distribution system operators in Sweden and transmission system operators in neighboring countries for a tool adapted to their operations and aspirations.