Two years of surface work underway at Forsmark site
Sweden has begun construction of a final deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel, where highly radioactive waste will be stored for 100,000 years.
The construction of the repository, at Forsmark in Östhammar municipality, will take 10 years before deposition can begin, nuclear fuel management company SKB said, after which the repository will be gradually expanded.
Two years of surface work will now begin, including the construction of rock storage and water treatment facilities, a canister bridge over the cooling water canal and forest clearance. After that, rock work will begin down into the bedrock.
In October, SKB received an environmental permit to build and operate the repository at Forsmark and a related 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.
In January 2022, the Swedish government approved plans to build the repository and encapsulation facility.
That approval allowed SKB to take final steps and preparations for initial construction.
SKB’s plan is for spent nuclear fuel to be encapsulated in copper and nodular cast iron at the encapsulation facility in Oskarshamn before being transported to the final repository close to the Forsmark nuclear power station, about 140 km north of Stockholm.
When fully developed, some time in the 2080s, the repository will comprise around 60 km of tunnels with space for more than 6,000 canisters of spent fuel.
Sweden already operates a repository for shorter-lived radioactive waste at Forsmark, which opened in 1988 and extends to a depth of 50 metres below the seabed of the Baltic.
An application to extend this repository was submitted in 2014 and granted by the government in December 2021, following approval by nuclear regulator SSM and the Land and Environment Court, as well as the municipality of Ӧsthammar.
Remaining Cost Of Waste Programme About $11 Billion
SKB has put the remaining costs for the country’s radioactive waste programme at around $11bn (€10bn).
The licensees of Swedish nuclear power plants take responsibility for all costs for programme, which includes decommissioning and demolition of the power plants, as well as the handling and final disposal of the nuclear waste and used nuclear fuel.
In 1980, Swedes voted to phase out nuclear power, but increased demand for energy and the need to address climate change led to a change of tack and in 2010 parliament agreed to the continued operation of existing reactors as well as leaving open the option of their eventual replacement.
Prime minister Ulf Kristersson has said Sweden will begin construction on a new nuclear power plant before the country’s next legislative election in 2026 as it pushes ahead with ambitious plans to increase nuclear capacity..
The government said in November 2023 it wanted to increase nuclear power production equivalent to two nuclear reactors by 2035, with a “massive expansion” to follow by 2045.
Sweden has six commercial reactors in operation at three nuclear stations: two at Ringhals, three at Forsmark and one at Oskarshamn. In January 2021, Ringhals-1 became the fourth commercial nuclear reactor to close in five years. The others were Ringhals-2, Oskarhamn-1 and Oskarhamn-2.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear generated 28.6% of the country’s electricity in 2023, down from 34% in 2019.
Sweden is one of only two countries to begin construction of a final repository. A similar facility for used fuel is being built at Olkiluoto in Finland.
The Finnish government granted a construction licence for that project in November 2015 and construction work on the repository started a year later.
When fully developed the repository will comprise around 60 km of tunnels with space for more than 6,000 canisters of spent fuel. Courtesy SKB.
