Sweden’s Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) officially broke ground on its long-awaited deep geological repository at Forsmark. The total remaining price tag for the country’s comprehensive radioactive waste management program, which includes decommissioning nuclear power plants, transportation, and long-term storage, is estimated at approximately $11.1 billion (€10 billion), fully financed by the operators of Sweden’s nuclear reactors.
The centerpiece project at Forsmark, located roughly 140 kilometers north of Stockholm, involves excavating a system of underground tunnels 500 meters deep into 1.9-billion-year-old bedrock. The site will eventually house over 60 kilometers of tunnels and hold up to 12,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel sealed inside 6,000 cast-iron and copper canisters, surrounded by bentonite clay. Under Sweden’s KBS-3 disposal concept, the repository is engineered to safely isolate highly radioactive waste from the surrounding environment for at least 100,000 years. Construction work is currently focused on two years of surface preparations—including ground clearance, water treatment facilities, and a dedicated canister bridge over the local cooling water canal—before tunnel excavation into the crystalline bedrock begins.
Parallel to the Forsmark repository, SKB was granted regulatory permits by the Land and Environmental Court to build a corresponding encapsulation facility at Oskarshamn, where the spent fuel will be packaged into copper canisters before being shipped to Forsmark aboard a specialized cargo vessel. Also, in Oskarshamn, there exists a nuclear power plant which has recently seen Fortum applying for government support to build new nuclear reactors at the site.
Initial waste deposition at the Forsmark site is slated to begin in the 2030s, with operations gradually expanding over decades until the repository is fully backfilled and sealed in the 2080s. Sweden’s waste management expansion aligns with the center-right government’s broader shift to reverse previous nuclear phase-out plans and significantly increase new nuclear power capacity across the country.
October 27, 2024
A Swedish court just approved the plans that will foresee the construction nuclear waste dump site. This nuclear waste repository site was cleared under the condition that “it has to remain structurally sound for a period of 100,000 years,” the court indicated.
In preparation for this project, Sweden has already allocated the site that will be used for the development of the project. The site is located 500 metres underground and will be based in Forsmark, which is located approximately 130 kilometres north of Stockholm at the Baltic coast. Moreover, just to note, this location is where one of the country’s 3 nuclear plants is located.
Sweden’s Nuclear Waste Management Project/Program Factsheet
Program: Sweden Nuclear Waste Management Plan
Cost: Approximately $11.1 billion
Developer: Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB)
Significance: Nuclear waste management
Location: Forsmark and Oskarshamn
Also read: The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant: World’s Largest Nuclear Construction Site
The Land and Environment Court permitted the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) to kick off construction works at the project site.
Furthermore, the court also permitted another site to be constructed at Oskarshamn. This is situated at the coast approximately 300 kilometres south of the country’s capital.
The site at Oskarshamn will possess an interim storage for storing the nuclear waste until it cools or decays into elements that are more stable.
It will then be embedded in cast iron and then be placed in copper canisters before being taken to Forsmark aboard the M/S Sigrid, which is a cargo ship that was designed by the company SKB and is incorporated with a number of enhanced safety features, like the reinforced double hull and watertights bulkheads.
Capacity of the Plant
When this process is undertaken to the fullest, this plant will have the capacity of processing around 200 canisters annually. Each of the canisters weighing approximately 2 tonnes.
“The operations are expected to run for about 70 years but can be further extended. This is if just in case the life span of the reactors are to be extended,” the court mentioned.
When combined altogether, SKB expects the overall cost of the nuclear waste management program to amount to a whopping $11.1 billion.
Current State of Affairs of Nuclear Energy in Sweden
“Currently, nuclear power accounts for about 30%of the country’s national power supply. In an endeavor to expand the country’s nuclear energy, the government of Sweden made a proposal of investing over SEK1 billion ($97 million) in the year 2025 in order to expand its fossil-free electricity production,” a report indicates.
“This will entail an increased investments in both the pilot and demonstration projects involving nuclear power projects,” the report added. “There will also be ensuring a smoother permitting process for allowing new reactors to be set up,” it concluded.
Lastly, just to note, Sweden has a total of six reactors that are currently fully operational. These reactors are located at the three existing nuclear power plants in the country. Sweden has also gotten to shut down a total of six reactors since the year 1999.
Project Team
Project Owner and Lead Developer
- SKB (Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB / Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co.): The primary entity managing and financing the nuclear waste program.
Parent Nuclear Utilities (Funding and Ownership)
SKB is jointly owned by Sweden’s major nuclear power operators, who fully fund the waste program through the Nuclear Waste Fund:
- Vattenfall (majority shareholder)
- Uniper (Sydkraft)
- Fortum
Primary Engineering and Construction Contractors
- Implenia: The principal construction partner selected for the core underground facility at Forsmark. The Swiss tunneling and construction firm is tasked with the planning, design, and excavation of the 500-meter-deep access tunnels, vertical shafts, and initial storage areas.
- Veidekke: Selected as the primary contractor for early ground infrastructure at Forsmark, including the multi-million-dollar geology and research facility built to support ongoing site monitoring.
Also read: South Korea’s KHNP Beats France’s Energy Giant to Win a Multi-Billion-Dollar Czech Nuclear Tender
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