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Of: TT
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Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT
So far, there is a final repository only for low and intermediate level radioactive waste in Sweden, at SKB’s SFR facility in Forsmark. Stock Photography.
Is it possible to create a protection against radioactive radiation that lasts 100,000 years? The plan is for Swedish nuclear waste to be disposed of in copper capsules embedded in clay at a depth of 500 meters in the bedrock.
Currently, Sweden’s highly active nuclear waste is collected in large watersheds outside Oskarshamn, at Clab buffer storage. But if the final disposal at Forsmark gets the green light from the government, now that the Östhammar municipality has said yes, the waste will be packed into large copper and steel capsules and lowered into shafts at a depth of 500 meters into the bed of rock. Additionally, the capsules are embedded in a bentonite clay sealing shell.
In this way, ionizing radiation from highly active wastes must be kept separate from all living things for approximately 100,000 years. It is estimated that it will be a long time before the waste can be considered harmless.
“Dry mountain”
The Swedish bedrock at Forsmark was formed about two billion years ago and has been for several million years at a relatively great distance from the unstable border areas where the Earth’s continental plates collide with each other. “There is a dry rock with few cracks in the depths,” writes the Swedish Nuclear Fuel Management AA (SKB) organization of nuclear power companies in a briefing.
However, not everyone agrees that the final repository planned at Forsmark is secure enough in its current design. For example, the Nuclear Waste Council, which works on behalf of the government, has called, among other things, for more studies to be carried out on the risk of copper cans corroding and thus starting to leak. In that case, radioactive substances could be released into groundwater and eventually carried to the ground.
– We have examined many detailed issues where we believe further in-depth study is needed, says Nuclear Waste Council Chairman Carl-Reinhold Bråkenhielm.
“Relevant criticism”
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has approved the project, but to some extent agrees with the objections of the Nuclear Waste Council.
– It is a relevant criticism, but in the context we have evaluated, we do not see it as something alarming or something that makes it impossible to comply with the safety requirements, says Bo Strömberg, researcher at the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority.
However, it emphasizes that ongoing research and evaluation of how the project is progressing is constantly required, if it receives permission to begin.
– Even if the government gives permission, this process will continue for many years, and as you build, you will gain more insight into the details. If we see something that changes the image, there is always the possibility of saying that it does not work and should be done differently, says Bo Strömberg.
Sweden, Finland and France
To date, no country has begun the final disposal of highly active nuclear waste, except for a small facility outside of New Mexico where military nuclear waste is stored. Sweden, Finland and France are the countries that have advanced the most in their plans. Finland aspires to the same method as Sweden, but is one step ahead. There, the government has already given a go-ahead in principle so that the method can be used and, in addition, construction of the storage tunnels has begun. But so far no waste has started to be dumped into the bedrock.
SKB estimates that the final repository can begin to be used ten years after construction begins. Thereafter, new tunnels will be blown up as debris begins to settle, until all debris has been removed. This is estimated to take at least another 40 years. Finally, the plant will be removed and permanently sealed.
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