Safety report approved with a number of conditions
Sweden’s Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) has approved a safety report for an expanded final repository for short-lived radioactive waste at Forsmark, paving the way for construction to begin within weeks.
Nuclear fuel management company SKB had said the facility needed to be expanded to accommodate decommissioning waste from Sweden’s nuclear power plants, including three units at the nearby Forsmark station.
SSM approved the safety report with a number of conditions, including that before key areas of the repository are built, SKB must submit a detailed account of construction.
Before the expanded facility can be put into trial operation, a renewed safety report needs to be reviewed and approved by SSM. This follows the “step-by-step examination that the authority works on”, a statement said.
The expansion was approved by the government in December 2021.
SKB said on 29 November that construction is likely to begin in December.
The repository began operations in 1988. It has a final disposal capacity of about 63,000 cubic metres of waste, but SKB applied in December 2014 to triple that to about 200,000 cubic metres.
The Forsmark repository is part of SKB’s final repository system, which is one of Sweden’s most extensive environmental protection projects. It is used for short-lived operational waste from Swedish nuclear power plants and radioactive waste from medical care, industry and research.
SKB is also planning to build a final repository for spent nuclear fuel at Forsmark and an encapsulation plant in Oskarshamn.
Sweden has six nuclear power plants in commercial operation – three at Forsmark, one at Oskarshamn and two at Ringhals. Seven units have been permanently shut down for decommissioning, including the 10 MW Agesta pressurised heavy water reactor unit, which was the country’s first commercial unit and was taken offline in 1974.
Late last year Sweden’s parliament approved a bill allowing more nuclear reactors to be built than planned, scrapping the previous cap of 10. New laws will also allow construction of nuclear reactors at sites other than existing ones.
Parliament also established a new energy policy goal of a completely fossil-free electricity system by 2040, which includes nuclear power.
