Chris Schneidmiller
RadWaste Monitor
11/20/2015
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) on Wednesday said it had preliminarily identified the east coast village of Forsmark as the best of several sites that have been considered to house a spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
The area, which is already home to a nuclear power plant and radioactive waste repository, was among eight municipalities that indicated interest in being the location for the underground site, according to a SSM press release. The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB), the contractor charged with building and operating the facility, in June 2009 picked Forsmark as its top site in a head-to-head competition against Laxemar, which is further south on the east coast, on the basis of radiation protection and safety.
“The decision to choose the Forsmark site is from the company. What we have done is to check that the process of selecting the site has been correct and that this has been done in a proper way,” Ansi Gerhardsson, SSM head of section, said in a Thursday telephone interview. “It comes down to that we agree with the company that Forsmark, among those places [that expressed interest], it’s the best site. It’s not necessarily the best place in the whole of Sweden, but among those places where the company has done further investigation, this is the best place.”
The geological benefits include bedrock with minimal fracturing and low groundwater flow, both of which would help in preventing any release of radiation from the structure, Gerhardsson said.
Sweden is home to 10 operating nuclear power reactors at three sites, which together provide roughly 50 percent of the nation’s energy, according to SSM. Two reactors at Barsebäck were shut down in 1999 and 2005. Several other atomic facilities also operate in the country, including the temporary central spent fuel storage facility at Oskarhamn.
The permanent storage facility, which would be built 500 meters underground, will be designed to hold roughly 12,000 metric tons of spent fuel in copper canisters that feature lead inserts. The containers will then be embedded in bentonite clay, with the surrounding bedrock acting as a final barrier against any radiation release. The projected total cost for construction and operations is 160 billion Swedish krona (about $18.5 billion at current exchange rates).
SSM said it assessed SKB’s findings on the potential outcomes of any radiation release from the repository. “The Authority is cautiously positive in its preliminary findings,” according to the press release.
The agency is scheduled in spring 2016 to deliver its findings regarding SKB’s license application to the Swedish land and environmental court and its final report in 2017 to the national government. The ultimate analysis remains unknown, as the agency must still consider issues including the structural integrity of the storage containers.
The government will rule on the permit, though Östhammar Municipality, which encompasses Forsmark, also has veto authority on the facility. Gerhardsson could not say when a final decision could be made. “I know that these things could go very smoothly or it could take a very long time, and it’s really difficult to say,” she said.
