Environmental permit granted for Swedish repository

Radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB can begin preparatory work for the final repository for used nuclear fuel in Forsmark and the encapsulation facility in Oskarshamn after Sweden's Land and Environment Court granted an environmental permit for the construction and operation of the facilities.

Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) applied in 2011 to the Land and Environmental Court in Nacka district court for permission to dispose of used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. The court then prepared the application, held a longer main hearing in 2017 and submitted its opinion to the government in 2018. The government decided on 27 January 2022 that the activity was permissible according to Sweden's Environmental Code.

The court has now granted SKB permission and determined the conditions that will apply to the business. An enforcement order also issued by the court means SKB can start initial work at both sites even if the judgment is appealed to the Land and Environment Court at the Svea Court of Appeal.

The permit applies to radioactive waste from the 12 reactors (six reactors in operation) that are part of the ongoing Swedish nuclear power programme. The permit does not apply to waste from a possible new nuclear power programme, the court noted. SKB may deposit approximately 6000 canisters with approximately 12,000 tonnes of nuclear waste at a depth of about 500 metres in the final repository. The business is estimated to last for around 70 years, but it can last longer if, for example, the operating time of the existing reactors is extended.

The court's conditions for the permit aim to limit the activity's impact on the environment through protective measures against noise, groundwater lowering, discharge to water, etc. Several conditions are aimed at protected species and natural areas in Forsmark.

According to a condition in the environmental permit, SKB must conduct environmental monitoring regarding information preservation for future generations and monitoring after closure.

SKB said the works that are within the scope of the permit - and which can start once the County Board of Uppsala County approves the control programme - include protective measures and preparatory work. In Forsmark, where the repository is to be built, it involves forest felling, excavation work for the operational area, construction of an area for rock storage, construction of a bridge over the cooling water channel, filling of the operating area and facilities for nitrogen purification.

"We need to establish the necessary infrastructure above ground and get started with ground work and protective measures," said SKB CEO 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."

In order for SKB to be able to start the tunneling itself, an approved safety report from the Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) is required. SSM will continue the step-by-step examination of the final repository according to the Act on Nuclear Activities.

SKB said the construction of the nuclear fuel repository in Forsmark will begin two years before that of the encapsulation facility in Oskarshamn, as the construction times are of different lengths. Both facilities are expected to be put into operation in the mid-2030s.

A similar geological repository 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. Posiva has applied for an operating licence for the facility to the end of 2070.