Sweden has begun construction of a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel, designed to last 100,000 years. This is the second such facility in the world after the Finnish one. The storage facility will be located in Forsmark, 150 kilometers north of Stockholm.
The facility will be 500 meters deep, dug into 1.9 billion-year-old rocks and will have 60 kilometers of tunnels. The repository is planned to store 12,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel, enclosed in 5-meter-long copper capsules. Everything will be packed in clay and buried. The facility is expected to start accepting waste in late 2030, with its closure planned for 2080.
The cost of the project is estimated at 12 billion Swedish kronor, or 1.1 billion euros. The project is financed by the nuclear industry. Despite the approval of the project, some organizations have expressed concerns about its safety.
The Swedish organization MKG has filed a complaint requesting additional inspections. She cited a study by the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden that indicated possible corrosion of copper capsules and leakage of radioactive elements into groundwater.
Sweden plans to build 10 new reactors by 2045, but the new repository will not be able to accommodate fuel from future installations. Currently, about 7,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel are stored in a temporary storage facility in Oskarshamn on Sweden's east coast.