In Sweden we have been using electricity from nuclear power for over 30 years. We who have benefited from this electricity are also responsible to future generations for managing and disposing of the waste. We must have a solution for waste disposal that does not require monitoring and inspection and that is also sustainably safe.
SKB is owned by nuclear-power companies that are legally and financially obliged to manage and dispose of the Swedish nuclear waste.
We currently have a well-functioning system of managing and disposing of nuclear waste. Both a final repository for operational waste and an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel have been in operation since the mid-1980s.
Over a period of three decades we have been developing a method for safely handling and storing the spent nuclear waste for long periods of time. We have conducted research and development, and performed studies and investigations. Several technical breakthroughs have occurred during this period.
We are currently preparing the parts of the system needed to begin the encapsulation and final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. The latter is the hardest to handle, since it requires that waste be isolated for at least 100,000 years.