Application submitted for Swedish repository

Thursday, 17 March 2011 Nuclear fuel company SKB has applied for permission to build Sweden's first repository for used nuclear fuel. SKB has also applied for permission to build a plant to encapsulate the fuel prior to disposal. A site at Forsmark, which is already home to Sweden's permanent repository for low- and intermediate-level waste, was selected for the spent fuel repository in June 2009. The encapsulation plant will be built at Oskarshamn, near the existing CLAB interim storage facility. The application will now be reviewed by the Swedish radiation safety authority and the environmental court for the municipality of Nacka before policy decisions are made by the relevant municipalities and the government. SKB president Claes Thegerström said the proposed facilities would ensure that both mankind and the environment be protected from the used fuel now and in the future. "After three decades of research, we have a safe method that is ready to be implemented," he said.