The poll, carried out annually by Novus, shows that eight out of 10 residents of Östhammar municipality, or 82%, approve of a nuclear fuel repository at Forsmark. In Oskarshamn municipality, 80 percent approve of SKB’s plans for an encapsulation plant.
In 2019, the corresponding figure for the Forsmark repository was 79& and in 2018 it was 77%.
SKB’s applications for a permit to build a nuclear fuel repository in Forsmark and an encapsulation plant in Oskarshamn, on the southeast coast, have been examined by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) and the Land and Environmental Court. They are now being reviewed by the government and will also need to be approved by the municipality of Östhammar. Oskarshamn City Council has already agreed to the encapsulation plant.
SSM recommended in January 2018 that the repository and encapsulation plant plans should be approved.
SKB submitted the applications for licences to develop an encapsulation facility and a final repository for spent nuclear fuel in 2011.
SKB’s plan is for spent nuclear fuel to be encapsulated in copper and nodular cast iron at Oskarshamn before being transported to the final repository at Forsmark.
SKB said it hopes that construction of the facilities will start in the early 2020s with operation around 10 years later.
The survey was conducted by Novus from 800 telephone interviews between March 10 and April 9.
