Swedish radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (SKB) has received an environmental permit to build and operate the final repository for used nuclear fuel in Forsmark and the encapsulation facility in Oskarshamn. The Land and Environmental Court also granted SKB an enforcement order so that initial work in the Forsmark area can start at the turn of the year. SKB CEO Stefan Engdahl said this was important milestone in that the environmental judgment sets the conditions for how the facilities are to be built and operated.
Work can start now at both sites even if the judgment is appealed. The works that are within the framework of the ordinance, and which can start when the County Administrative Board in Uppsala County has approved the control programme, include protective measures and preparatory work. In Forsmark, where the repository is to be built, it involves forest felling, excavation work for the operational area, construction of an area for rock storage, construction of a bridge over the cooling water channel, filling of the operating area and facilities for nitrogen purification.
The court set conditions for the permit intended to limit the impact on the environment through protective measures against noise, groundwater lowering, discharge to water, as well as to protect species and natural areas in Forsmark. SKB must also conduct environmental monitoring regarding information preservation for future generations and monitoring after closure.
“We need to establish the necessary infrastructure above ground and get started with ground work and protective measures,” said Engdahl. “SKB has proposed conditions that take nature and the surroundings into account. We adapt to the birds’ nesting periods, move species worthy of protection so that they can continue to live on the site and build bioreactors that purify process water from nitrogen.”
Before SKB can start tunnelling, an approved safety report from the Radiation Safety Authority (SSM – Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) is required. Construction of the repository in Forsmark will begin two years before the encapsulation facility in Oskarshamn, as the construction times are of different lengths. Both facilities are expected to be put into operation in the mid-2030s.
Swedish government approval for the repository and encapsulation plant was granted on 27 January 2022. SKB applied in 2011 to the Land and Environmental Court in Nacka district for permission to dispose of used fuel and radioactive waste. The court then prepared the application and following a hearing in 2017 submitted its opinion to the government in 2018. The final repository project is expected to bring investments of around SEK19bn ($2bn) and will create about 1,500 jobs. The projects will be financed by funds already available from the Nuclear Waste Fund.
The permit applies to radioactive waste and used fuel from the 12 reactors (six reactors in operation) that comprise the current Swedish nuclear power programme. This does not include waste from a possible new nuclear power programme.
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.
The encapsulation plant will be built in connection with the central intermediate storage facility for used fuel, Clab, in Oskarshamn municipality. The fuel will be taken from Clab, encapsulated in copper capsules in Oskarshamn and transported by the specially built vessel m / s Sigrid to the final repository in Forsmark for landfill.
In February, SSM approved SKB’s renewed safety report for expansion of Clab. SKB has applied to increase the amount of used fuel that can be stored in Clab from 8,000 tonnes to 11,000 tonnes, which the Government and the Land and Environmental Court have authorised. The government’s decision contained conditions for approvals of security reports in three stages. The process has now reached the second stage which means SKB can now start storing more than 8,000 tonnes. The next step is for SKB to submit a supplementary safety report describing the experience of the test operation and SSM will then decide whether the plant can switch to routine operation.
Sweden’s system for handling radioactive waste and used fuel consists of a number of plants that together form a safe chain including the planned final repository and encapsulation plant. The first parts of the system were built in the 1980s. these include Clab and the final repository for short-lived radioactive waste (SFR). In Clab used fuel is stored in water pools under constant monitoring and control 25-30 metres below ground level. The SFR stores operational waste from the NPPs and radwaste from healthcare, industry and research. The facility is located in Forsmark about 50 metres below sea level in the Urberget.
