Sweden's radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) has received an environmental permit to expand and conduct operations in Forsmark port. The judgment made by the Land & Environment Court regulates, among other things, noise, transport and other impacts on the environment. The permit can be implemented immediately even if the judgment is appealed. Anna Porelius, communications manager SKB, said this will enable sustainable transport to and from SKB’s planned final repository projects .
In April, SKB took over Forsmark's port from former owner Forsmark's power group as a prerequisite for handling and transporting radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel from NPPs to the repository. The port now needs to be upgraded and expanded with another berth.
SKB will carry out two large construction projects in Forsmark in the coming years and will have to ensure sustainable transport. If building materials and rock masses can go by sea, the number of road transports in the municipality will be reduced.
Refurbishment and expansion involves investments of approximately SEK200m ($19.6m). The work will start in the autumn of 2024 and will last for just over a year. The port must then be ready for both the expansion of the SFR final repository for short-lived radioactive waste and the construction of the final repository for used nuclear fuel. These are two construction projects in the multi-billion-dollar class where primarily excess rock masses need to be transported away and building materials brought in via the port.
Image: Forsmark port with Forsmark NPP in background (courtesy of SKB)
