Sweden Proposes Burying Nuclear Waste

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--SKB Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company has proposed burying spent nuclear waste at the site of the Forsmark nuclear plant, which is 200 kilometres north of Stockholm. The company has applied to the government to build an encapsulation facility for temporary storage in the Oskarshamn municipality, and a final repository for spent nuclear fuel at Forsmark in the Osthammar municipality.

SKB says Forsmark was chosen after 20 years of searching and that the three-stage method of storage proposed will be safe. Spent nuclear fuel will first be encased in impermeable copper canisters with cast-iron inserts. These will be sunk into crystalline basement rock at a depth of about 500 metres before the tunnels and shafts are back-filled with bentonite, a swelling clay that provides a waterproof barrier.

The proposal could not have come at a more volatile time for the nuclear industry, as all eyes are still on Japan and the ongoing problems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, where numerous explosions and radiation leaks were triggered last week by a massive earthquake and the resulting tsunami. For related news, see March 15, 2011, article - Europe Faces Backlash After Explosions at Japanese Nuclear Plants. Nuclear power generates about 45% of Sweden's electricity; last year, the government overturned a previous 30-year ban on developing new nuclear power. For related news, see March 29, 2010, article - Sweden's Nuclear Power U-turn Progresses.

SKB is funded by the owners and operators of the country's 10 nuclear reactors, and has been tasked with finding the best way of dealing with the radioactive waste. In 2009, it announced its decision to develop a storage facility at Forsmark, but was expected to apply for permission last year. For related news, see June 9, 2009, article - Sweden Chooses First Permanent Nuclear Waste Facility.

"Considering what is happening in Japan, it is clear that we need a better system for storage than what we have now," SKB CEO Claes Thegeström said this week. "The solution we are presenting for review satisfies the societal requirement stipulating that human beings and the environment must be protected from spent nuclear fuel, both now and in the future. Over three decades of research have resulted in a safe method that is ready to be implemented. We also have a carefully selected location that provides the requisite safety requirements for a final repository."

He added: "We discern clear support for our standpoint that the final repository should be built now rather than being postponed to the future. There is also strong scientific support that building the repository in bedrock is the appropriate strategy. Bedrock offers much better long-term protection than would fuel storage close to the surface for an indefinite period of time."

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