Nuclear waste: Swedish government approves plans for repository

Swedish nuclear power plant Forsmark: 12,000 tons of radioactive waste are to be accommodated in the planned repository

Photo: Roger Wikstrom/ dpa

The Swedish government has approved plans for the disposal of nuclear waste.

Around 12,000 tons of radioactive waste are to be stored around 500 meters underground in kilometer-long tunnels in copper canisters embedded in concrete.

"Sweden and Finland are the first countries in the world to take responsibility for their nuclear waste," Swedish Environment Minister Annika Strandhäll said in a press release.

The plans of the company SKB, which belongs to the Swedish nuclear power industry, have been classified as safe by the authorities according to the applicable criteria.

A court is now to issue the formal approvals.

According to Swedish media reports, it could take decades to complete the project.

The repository is to be built in Forsmark in southern Sweden.

One of Sweden's nuclear power plants is also located there.

The plans also include the construction of a plant in Oskarshamn, also in southern Sweden, which will be responsible for the copper canisters.

Sweden is thus following the example of neighboring Finland, which is currently building a repository in Eurajoki on the south-west coast of the country.

The repository is about to be completed and is scheduled to go into regular operation in 2025 after a test phase.

The two countries are the first to have approved this type of disposal facility.

In Germany, as in many other countries, the question of a repository is still open.

When the lights go out in the last German nuclear power plant at the end of 2022, the nuclear waste that has accumulated over decades will continue to radiate in large quantities.

Experts expect around 10,500 tons of highly radioactive waste from fuel assemblies by 2080.

They should one day rest in a repository that should officially be found by 2031.

It is not yet clear whether this will succeed.

ime/dpa/AFP