Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB), the company responsible for storing Swedish nuclear waste, has applied for permission to site an encapsulation plant at Oskarshamn.
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The company has submittedan application to the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) for a permit toconstruct and operate a used fuel encapsulation plant next to the existinginterim storage facility (Clab). This facility – near the Oskarshamn nuclearpower plant – stores Sweden's used nuclear fuel in water basins in vaults blasted out of the rock. Clab beganoperating in 1985 and has a storage capacity for some 5000 tonnes of uranium (about20,000 BWR assemblies plus 2500 PWR assemblies). The new encapsulation facilityand Clab will eventually be operated together.
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In the encapsulation plant, the spent nuclear fuel will be dried and placed in copper canisters. Thecanister will then be fitted with a lid that is welded on by means of a weldingmethod called friction stir welding (FSW). This entails that lid and canisterare machined together into a homogeneous material. The weld joint will beinspected by means of non-destructive testing (radiographic and ultrasonic).The canister can then be placed in a transport cask for transport to a proposedfinal repository.
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SKB does not expect theregulatory authorities or the government to make a final ruling on theapplication under the Nuclear Activities Act until after 2009, when theapplication for the final repository itself is submitted. A comprehensive environmentalreview of the entire final repository system will then be commenced. The siteinvestigations that are currently being conducted in Östhammar and Oskarshamnare based on the KBS-3 system, which entails that the fuel is encapsulated incopper canisters deposited at a depth of approximately 500m in the Swedishbedrock, embedded in bentonite clay.
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Further information
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WNA'sÌýÌýinformation paper
WNA'sÌýÌýinformation paper
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