Sweden breaks ground for used fuel repository

Wednesday, 15 January 2025

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. 

In October last year, the Land and Environmental Court granted SKB permission and determined the conditions that will apply to the business. An enforcement order also issued by the court means SKB could start initial work even if the judgment is appealed at the Svea Court of Appeal.

SKB announced that Minister of Climate and Environment Romina Pourmokhtari represented the government on site and broke ground today.

"It is a historic day for the Swedish nuclear waste programme. We are taking an important step and breaking ground for a final solution for the spent nuclear fuel," said SKB CEO Stefan Engdahl. "We are thus creating good conditions for continued fossil-free electricity production."

_{A visualisation of the completed repository (Image: SKB)}

The construction of the used fuel repository will take ten years before deposition can begin, SKB said, after which the repository will be gradually expanded over a long period of time. 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 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.

The permit for the repository applies to radioactive waste from the 12 reactors (six reactors in operation) that are part of the ongoing Swedish nuclear power programme. It does not apply to waste from a possible new nuclear power programme. 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 above-ground part of the repository will occupy an area of about ​​24 hectares (60 acres), whilst once completed, the repository will comprise more than six kilometers of underground tunnels.

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.