Sweden-based WSP said on 24 May that, together with Golder (now part of WSP) and Amberg it is to design expansion of the final repository for short-lived radioactive waste, in Forsmark for Swedish nuclear waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (SKB).
Low- and intermediate-level waste is handled in a final repository for short-lived radioactive waste (SFR) in Forsmark. The existing SFR has been in operation since 1988. The repository is housed in rock chambers 50 meters below the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It stores operating waste from Swedish NPPs as well as waste from healthcare, research and other industry is stored.
To enable final disposal of radioactive waste from the demolition of Swedish NPPs, the SFR needs to be expanded. The project's task is to expand the final repository with six new 255-275-metre-long mountain halls at a depth of 120-140 metres.
WSP's assignment includes designing in detail and producing construction documents for the expansion of the facility. The assignment includes, among other things, describing rock extraction and rock reinforcement. It also includes detailed design of attachments to rock. For WSP's, several technology areas will be involved, such as rock technology/geology and construction.
The assignment has been running since the end of April and will be finally delivered at the end of 2022.