Nuclear waste management

As a nuclear power operator it is our responsibility to have reliable and acceptable solutions for the management of nuclear waste from our power plants. Vattenfall supports research and development in nuclear waste management. At our power plants we handle all kinds of waste according to stringent standards.

SKB, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, is tasked with managing and disposing of radioactive waste from the Swedish nuclear power plants. The company is jointly owned by the nuclear power companies.
Short-term storage
Solutions for final storage
Prepaid final repository

Nuclear waste - short-term storage

The nuclear fuel is used in the reactor for approximately five years. It is then kept under water for at least nine months inside the nuclear power plant. During this period the fuel loses 90 per cent of its radioactivity.

Before entering final disposal the high-level radioactive spent fuel needs to spend some 30 years in interim storage facilities, to allow for radioactivity and heat output to decline further. By the end of this period, the waste has lost another 90 per cent of its radioactivity.

Sweden

In Sweden, spent fuel from Vattenfall’s nuclear power operations, as well as all other Swedish highlevel radioactive waste, is kept in a central interim storage facility in Oskarshamn. The fuel is stored in deep pools of water 30 metres below ground.

Germany

In Germany, the interim storage facilities are situated at the nuclear power sites. In 1999, the energy companies that own nuclear power operations, applied to the German federal office for radiation protection (BfS) for licenses to operate onsite interim storage facilities, all of which were granted in 2003. At the Brunsbüttel plant, the interim storage facility was commissioned in February 2006. The interim storage facilities at the Krümmel and Brokdorf plants were commissioned in November 2006 and in March 2007.
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Solutions for final storage

High-level radioactive waste, which primarily consists of spent nuclear fuel, must be carefully shielded during the handling and transportation phases. It takes one hundred thousand years for the radioactivity to decline to the level that occurs in the quantity of uranium ore from which the fuel was originally fabricated.

Sweden

In Sweden, the waste is planned to be placed in steel and copper canisters prior to disposal in the bedrock, at a depth of about 500 metres. The decision on where the final Swedish repository will be situated will be taken 2009 - 2010. In 2002 surveys were initiated in Östhammar and Oskarshamn municipalities in order to collect detailed information about the prerequisites for a final repository. There are several factors to consider, such as the bedrock must fulfil extensive requirements and consideration must be taken for local society and infrastructure as well as of the public opinion in the area.

SKB, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, expects to submit an application for a permit to build the final repository in 2009. In 2020, at the earliest, the first Swedish nuclear waste might be deposited deep down the bedrock.

The Swedish radioactive operational waste is stored in the final repository SFR. It is a central facility for disposal of short-lived low- and intermediate-level waste. SFR is located near Forsmark nuclear power plant, 50 metres beneath the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Germany

In Germany, studies have been conducted on the possibility of using the salt mine in Gorleben as a final repository for highly radioactive waste, however, no further studies have been done since 2000. The German ministry for the environment intends to look into alternatives to Gorleben, and in 2008 it will be setting new safety requirements for final storage.
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Prepaid final repository

All costs associated with the final disposal of nuclear waste from today´s electricity generation are borne today. It has been taken into consideration that a significant part of costs for the deep disposal of high-level radioactive waste occurs many years after production has been closed down.

Sweden

In Sweden, the nuclear power companies continuously pay fees to a state-controlled fund (the Swedish Nuclear Waste Fund) and this will cover all costs associated with waste storage and the decommissioning of nuclear reactors.

Germany

In Germany, too, all costs associated with the final disposal of nuclear waste will be borne by those who produce the radioactive waste. The provisions built up for nuclear waste and decommissioning, however, remain within the nuclear power industry, that is, the utility companies, energy companies and research centers. These provisions are reported in their respective financial statements.
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