Financial package for would-be waste sites

08 April 2009

A cooperation deal worth $240 million for communities involved in the late stages of Sweden's waste storage program has been drawn up.

 

SKB, the utility-owned organisation with the responsibility to manage Sweden's radioactive waste, is expecting to decide between to competing localities this summer. Both Oskarshamn and Östhammar want the deep geologic repository.

 

The SEK2 billion ($240 million) is part of a prelimiary agreement of community support to be finalised by SKB with the councils of the two regions. SKB CEO Claes Thegerström said he wants to "contribute to the development of the municipalities that are taking a great responsibility in an important national issue."

 

Oskarshamn investigation area
The areas SKB has investigated in the Oskarshamn municipality

 

About 25% of the package would go to the community that was chosen to host the waste facility, with the rest going to the disappointed region. About 20% of the money would be spent between 2010 and 2015 with the rest coming during the repository's operation over several decades.

 

In addition to this money, the host region would benefit from infrastructure upgrades, an influx of spending during construction and operation as well as a long-standing supply of high-quality local jobs.

 

Oskarshamn already hosts Sweden's interim store for used nuclear fuel, CLAB, as well as the Äspö hard rock laboratory and the lab researching the manufacture of the waste packages. Östhammar has the final repository for short-lived radioactive waste. Both have nuclear power plants nearby, Oskarshamn and Forsmark respectively.