In Sweden, research has been conducted on safe landfills fornuclear waste for 30 years. Now the program ends. Why? A good and safe solution has been found.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, NND and the Norwegian municipalities of Halden, Aremark, Lillestrøm and Aurskog-Høland visited the Swedish SKB in Oskarshamn.Here is one of the world's most advanced laboratories for research on nuclear waste disposal, the Äspo laboratory owned by SKB.
SKB is the Swedish company that handles all radioactive waste from the Swedish nuclear power plants. Sweden, unlike Norgehatt, has several commercial nuclear power plants, and today the country has 7,000 tons of used fuel. In comparison, Norway has 16.5 tonnes after the Norwegian nuclear reactors.
30 years of research on deep landfills means that Sweden has builtvery good knowledge about the safe disposal of all types of nuclear waste. Sweden also has extensive experience in carrying out localization processes for nuclear plants. SKB has had a good cooperation with Oskarshamnkommune, which is the host municipality for both the research facility and Sweden's warehouse for the spent fuel, called Clab. In Clab, the spent fuel is stored until it is moved by ship to the landfill about 30 miles further north.
During the Norwegian visit, the municipal councillor in Oskarshamn, LucasLodge, told about how the municipality works with SKB to ensure good processes inthe local community. Providing local anchoring is also an important issue when NND works on locating the new nuclear facilities.
“It is great that Halden's politicians get a close look at how Sweden currently stores and in the future plans for the safe disposal of its nuclear waste,” says Mayor Fredrik Holm of Halden Municipality about the study visit to Oskarshamn.
Recently, the municipality decided to continue its cooperation with NND as an enabling-host municipality for both warehouse and deep landfill.
“It is also very useful to get an insight into how a landfill works in reality while it is still possible,” adds Håkon Tolsby, Mayor of Aremark Municipality, and aims to have the research programme in Oskarshamnskal discontinued.
SKB has also had a good dialogue with the municipality of Østhammar north of Stockholm where it has been decided that Sweden will build a deep landfill. The area was degraded after many years of research in the laboratory in Oskarshamn. Among other things, research has been done on how bedrockprotects against radiation. Research has also been done on how the encapsulation of the spent fuel is affected when stored for a long time deep in the field. In 2024, permission was granted to begin constructionof surface facilities for the deep landfills in Østhammar.
“It is always equally stimulating to welcome organizations from different parts of the world and tell and show how we take care of radioactive waste at SKB. We have a lot to be proud of as we showcase our business. When we see how we have chosen to do things, other countries can learn from this. It is particularly exciting about this visit when NND is facing a challenge of a different nature than the one we are working on in Sweden, but the solutions may be the same. We can learn from each other,” says Erik Möller, project manager at SKBInternational.
“It has been two intense days with the opportunity to see large parts of SKB's operations here in Oskarshamn. We face similar challenges to SKB, where we need to find solutions to ensure a handling ofradioactive waste that is safe for both humans and the environment,” explains Martin Andreasson, Director of Communications at NNDS.
-We have had the opportunity to see both the daily operations of iCLab and the Äspo laboratory. In addition, we have gained insight into how SKB operates in the local community in Oskarshamn and how important local anchoring and acceptance are to be able to carry out the mission,” he continues.
