Nuclear power is a large-scale energy-producing technology. It protects air quality by producing massive amounts of carbon-free electricity. But the Nuclear waste it generates necessitates sophisticated treatment and management to successfully isolate it from interacting with the biosphere.
Swedish nuclear fuel and waste management company (SKB) has been working on this issue for over 40 years. The Swedish government recently approved a plan by SKB to develop a storage facility required for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. This storage facility will keep the country’s radioactive nuclear fuel safe for the next 100,000 years.
“It is a historical decision that enables SKB to dispose of the nuclear waste that our generation has produced. This decision is met with open arms. We are now looking forward to implementing Sweden’s largest environmental protection project,” said in a statement SKB’s CEO Johan Dasht.
The company plan to use iron casings surrounded by copper tubes that are slid into a crystalline rock in a tunnel 500 meters underground.
The site of the final storage will be in the bedrock near Forsmark
This ambitious project has also been reviewed by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and the ‘Land and Environment Court’. This is to make sure that it satisfies all safety requirements both for man and the environment.
“For SKB, the decision further strengthens our position as a world leader in this area. The final repository also provides long-term solutions for electricity generation and is, thereby, our contribution to enabling fossil-free living within one generation,” says Johan Dasht.
