Double approval of SKB’s final repository application

The Land and Environment Court recommends approval of SKB’s application to extend the existing Final Repository for Short-lived Radioactive Waste, SFR, in Forsmark. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has also given its approval.

– The Court’s answer shows that our final repository concept is capable of meeting the Swedish Environmental Code’s very high requirements for both long-term safety and consideration of the high natural values in the surroundings, says SKB’s Managing Director Eva Halldén.

SKB’s application for permission to extend SFR has now been approved in both the Land and Environment Court’s review under the Environmental Code and the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s review under the Nuclear Activities Act. The next step is for the Government to decide on the matter based on the statements of the Court and the expert authority.

– We have now passed two very important milestones on the road to being able to extend SFR. Our hope is that these two clear statements will also facilitate the continued process for a final licence, says Eva Halldén.

– The extended SFR facility is an important part of our mission to manage and dispose of all the Swedish nuclear waste in a manner that is safe for humans and the environment both now and in the future.

The application was processed in a main hearing in the Land and Environment Court for two weeks earlier this autumn. SFR has been in operation in Forsmark since 1988 and has to be extended to create capacity for final disposal of low-level and intermediate-level operational and decommissioning waste from the Swedish nuclear power plants.