The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM – Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) has authorised power utility OKG, which operates the Oskarshamn NPP, to construct a new land repository for very low-level nuclear waste.
The new final repository will be built in connection with two previous land repositories on the Simpevarps peninsula north of Oskarshamn. The authority has also approved OKG’s environmental impact assessment. The Land & Environmental Court had previously issued a permit for the land repository in accordance with the Environmental Code.
The waste that can be deposited in the repository is classified as very low-level and is largely from ongoing decommissioning work at OKG, and also at Barsebäck’s NPP. Significant parts of the waste are concrete. It will also take waste from the Oskarshamn 3 reactor, which is currently in operation, as well as waste from the Swedish Nuclear Fuel Management (SKB) intermediate storage facility for used nuclear fuel, Clab.
“The repository is designed in a similar way to a landfill for hazardous waste. We made the assessment that it meets the requirements to be able to store this type of very low-level waste in a radiation-safe way,” said SSM investigator Anders Wiebert.
This will total 18,000 cubic metres of waste. The repository will operate until 2048 after which it will be under radiation protection control by OKG for another 30 years. It differs from previous land repositories for waste from nuclear facilities in that the permit will not allow the deposit of cellulose waste such as paper, fabric and wood that can be treated by incineration.
