Stockholm - Owners of reactors should be prepared to pay higher damages in case of an accident, a government inquiry said Monday as Sweden moved to allow current reactors to be replaced by new ones.

Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren welcomed the proposal that is to be subject to a public consultation process.

"It is important that the owners of the reactors take full responsibility for security and insurances," Carlgren said.

At present reactor owners are obliged to cover costs of up to 3.3 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars), but the sum should be hiked to some 12.4 million euros, the government investigator suggested.

The proposal suggested that the reactor owners should sign up to a mutual insurance system, noting that this is in place in other countries.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right government said it would scrap a ban against building new nuclear power reactors, revoking a 1980 referendum decision to phase out nuclear power.

Any new reactors would be built on the three current nuclear plant sites in Sweden.

Sweden has operated 12 nuclear reactors. Two at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, the most recent in May 2005.(dpa)