Sweden’s radioactive waste management company SKB has received an environmental permit to build and operate a final repository for spent nuclear fuel at Forsmark and an encapsulation facility at Oskarshamn.

The permit was issued by the Land and Environmental Court, which also granted SKB an order allowing initial work at both sites to start at the turn of the year.

SKB said the order was a central part of the court’s decision. It means that work can start even if the judgment is appealed.

“We need to establish the necessary infrastructure above ground and get started with ground work and protective measures,” said SKB’s chief executive officer Stefan 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.”