Sweden, go-ahead for Dump
Posted: 29th January 2022
The Swedish government’s decision to say yes to repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark is both regrettable and irresponsible. This is the opinion of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and the Swedish NGO Office for Nuclear Waste Review (MKG). The government has made its decision without the nuclear industry having shown that the copper canisters that are to guarantee safety for at least 100,000 years will work as intended.– The government has today made a historic decision and I am afraid that they have made a historic mistake. It is directly irresponsible of the government to say yes to the repository for spent nuclear fuel. The method of disposal with copper canisters has received extensive criticism from eminent independent corrosion expertise. The nuclear waste can cause significant environmental damage in the Forsmark area ¬ perhaps already after a few hundred years, says Johanna Sandahl, chair of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. The government has chosen to say yes to the spent fuel repository, despite the fact that during the government review additional knowledge has emerged that copper does not function as canister material. The copper canisters are to guarantee safety for humans and the environment for over 100 000 years. Independent corrosion researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) have repeatedly warned that there is a risk that the canisters will break down – already after a few hundred years. If the canisters break down and the extremely hazardous nuclear waste leaks out, it will contaminate the groundwater and the entire ecosystem. The marine environment is also affected. If thishappens, a large area must be cordoned off as a zone with no access for a very long time and no one may eat or drink anything from the area. MKG 27th Jan 2022 https://www.mkg.se/en/the-swedish-government-allows-the-nuclear-industry-to-build-an-unsafe-repository-for-spent-nuclear Sweden’s government gave the go-ahead on Thursday for the building of a storage facility to keep the country’s spent nuclear fuel safe for the next 100,000 years. What to do with nuclear waste has been a major headache since the world’s first nuclear plants came on line in the 1950s and 1960s.The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that there is around 370,000 tonnes of highly radioactive, spent nuclear fuel in temporary storage around the globe. Nasdaq 27th Jan 2022 https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/sweden-approves-plan-to-bury-spent-nuclear-fuel-for-100000-years Sweden has become one of the first countries in the world to approve a £12 billion bunker where radioactive waste from atomic power plants will be stored for as long as 100,000 years. The problem of safely and permanently disposing of spent fuel from nuclear reactors has bedevilled governments for decades. So far, only Finland has completed a “deep geological” storage facility, located in a layer of granite half a kilometre below its southwest coast, while the US has a repository in New Mexico that is used only for waste from its nuclear weapons programme. Times 28th Jan 2022 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sweden-digs-deep-to-bury-nuclear-waste-3gnvndnwf NS Energy 28th Jan 2022 https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/sweden-approves-construction-of-spent-nuclear-fuel-facility/