Extending the SFR Repository in Order to Handle Decommissioning Waste From the Swedish NPPs

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Extending the SFR Repository in Order to Handle Decommissioning Waste From the Swedish NPPs Fredrik Vahlund & Anna Gordon Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. Box 250, SE-101 24 Stockholm, Sweden ABSTRACT Low- and intermediate-level operational waste from the Swedish nuclear power plants is stored in the SFR repository. The facility is located in the bedrock at a depth of approximately 50 m and has been in operation for 20 years. According to present plans, all Swedish nuclear power plants will have been decommissioned by the end of the 2040s. The decommissioning phase will start by initially decommission the two Barseback reactors that have been non-operational since 1999 and 2005. In order to host the decommissioning waste, the storage volume of the SFR repository must be extended with approximately 140,000 m3. To do this, a project is ongoing with the objective of submitting an application to extend SFR by 2013 and the superior aim of having the facility in operation year 2020. INTRODUCTION The two reactors in Barseback (see Figure 1) were shut down in 1999 and 2005 due to political decisions. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and local authorities want to see a near decommissioning. A prerequisite for decommissioning is a repository for the radioactive waste generated through decommissioning. At the Swedish nuclear fuel and waste management Co, SKB, a project has been initiated with the aim to produce an application and apply for such a facility. The initial approach is to extend the existing repository for short-lived low- and intermediate-level waste, SFR located in Forsmark, Figure 1. This project entails activities such as site investigation, design and safety analysis.

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Figure 1. Location of commercial Swedish nuclear power plants.

EXISTING FACILITY The repository for short-lived low- and intermediate-level operational waste, SFR, was put into operation in 1988 and is situated near the Forsmark nuclear power plant, Figure 1. The repository is licensed and dimensioned for operational waste. The waste consists primarily of spent organic ion exchange resins from reactor cleaning systems and waste in form of trash, scrap and mechanical components from maintenance work. The facility is located in the bedrock at a depth of approximately 50 metres beneath the seabed. The storage chambers consist of four 160 metre long rock caverns of various configurations and a 70 metre tall rock cavern in which a concrete silo has been built, see Figure 2. The caverns and the silo are designed to meet requirements for different types of waste with different activity levels and packaging, see Figure 3. 1BTF

2BTF

BLA

Silo

BMA

Figure 2. SFR, final repository for short-lived low- and intermediate-level operational waste located in Forsmark. One of the four rock caverns contains low-level waste enclosed in ordinary ISO containers. This rock cavern is called BLA (rock cavern for low-level waste). The waste in this part of the facility can be handled without any kind of radiation shielding. Three of the caverns