Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management (SKB – Svensk Kärnbränslehantering) has signed a collaboration agreement with Implenia for the construction of the Spent Fuel Repository’s hard rock facility in Forsmark. This includes the planning, design and construction of access routes down to a repository level of 500 metres and the first parts of the final repository.
The Repository, SKB’s largest construction project, will be built in Forsmark in Östhammar municipality, and preparatory work above ground officially started at the beginning of the year. Implenia has now been selected to work with SKB to build the underground repository facility.
The agreement covers an access tunnel, three vertical shafts for ventilation and a lift, a central area and main tunnels and transport tunnels to the first repository areas, where used nuclear fuel is to be placed. Rock construction work will take just over eight years.
“The construction of the Spent Fuel Repository is an important step in our mission to dispose of the radioactive waste safely, said SKB CEO Stefan Engdahl. “We are happy to have signed a collaboration agreement with Implenia, as they possess solid expertise and experience in rock excavation and infrastructure projects.”
This autumn, Implenia will establish outbuildings, workshops and other necessary infrastructure in Forsmark. Before rock excavation work can begin, approval is required from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM – Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten), which is currently reviewing SKB’s safety analysis report.
“Being selected for the planning, design and construction of this facility together with SKB offers strong proof that our strategy is a timely one,” said Jiri T Englén, CEO of Implenia Sweden. “We look forward to a successful collaboration with SKB, one in which we can contribute our ability to collaborate, our working methods and our technical expertise.”
The extension of the Spent Fuel Repository will take place in several stages before disposal can begin during the 2030s. The extension will continue for several decades, and the repository will be fully extended at some time in the 2080s.
Forsmark in Östhammar was chosen for the final repository after careful site investigations. The repository will be at a depth of 500 metres in a 1.9bn-year-old mountain. It will hold 12,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel, which will be encapsulated in approximately 6,000 copper capsules and deposited in tunnels that extend over six miles underground. Around the capsules, a layer of bentonite will be filled which acts as a buffer and protects against minor movements in the rock.
