Sweden approves storage site for nuclear waste – POLITICO
STOCKHOLM – After decades of prevariation, Sweden on Thursday decided on a final storage plan for its nuclear waste, and became only the second country in the world after Finland to take such a step.
Minister of the Environment Annika Strandhäll told a press conference that permission has been granted to build a plant to package and store spent nuclear fuel at a coastal location near Forsmark’s nuclear power plant, about an hour’s drive north of the capital.
– It has been a long process to get to where we are now, says Strandhäll. “This has been one of the most carefully examined issues the government has ever looked at.”
The decision is significant because it confirms Sweden’s position as a world leader in nuclear waste storage. Finland is the only other country to decide on such a plan and is building a storage facility in Olkiluoto, across the Gulf of Bothnia from Forsmark. Like the Forsmark project, the Finnish plan was based on a process developed by Swedish researchers.
The method – called KBS3 Will see the spent nuclear fuel stored in copper containers surrounded by bentonite clay and placed in 500 tunnels that will be 500 meters underground. The goal is to keep the radioactive waste isolated for at least 100,000 years.
– The method has been researched for a long time, says Strandhäll. “It has been carefully developed and well prepared.”
But it has existed criticism of the KBS3 method in recent years, including by researchers who have suggested that copper may not be as resistant to corrosion as the method assumes, which means that the risk of leaks may be higher than expected.
Strandhäll said that the relevant authority – the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority – had assessed the method as safe.
The approval of Forsmarksplatsen is a big step forward in a long story.
Since the 1970s, Swedish authorities – like their counterparts in nuclear-dependent states around the world – have sought a solution for the final disposal of nuclear waste, searching the country for suitable sites while at the same time commissioning researchers to develop safe methods.
But it took until 2011 before an application was made by the company SKB – a nuclear waste manager owned by Swedish nuclear power producers – for a building permit in Forsmark.
Since then, long consultations have been held with stakeholders, from researchers to residents in Östhammar municipality where Forsmark is located.
At the end of last year, the process became more politically divided when two opposition parties pushed the government to make a decision on the SKB application and threatened Strandhäll with a no-confidence vote if she did not stand.
At the same time, the Green Party, which left the government in November last year, said that the process is being accelerated and that more time is needed for research.
Strandhäll said that the research would continue to optimize the process and ensure that it is as safe as possible, but added that the issue of storage of nuclear waste can not be pushed into the future indefinitely.
“Today we have the knowledge and technology that means we do not have to place this responsibility on our children and grandchildren,” she said. “This is a responsibility that the government must take now.”
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