The purpose of the agreement on development efforts, which was completed this spring, was to create added value in the two municipalities, regardless of where the Nuclear Fuel Repository would end up. Now it is clear that approximately 75 percent of the added value will go to Oskarshamn. The remaining 25 percent will go to Östhammar.
In the long term
In the siting work for the Nuclear Fuel Repository, SKB worked in a number of locations around Sweden, although the focus during the last seven years has been on the municipalities of Oskarshamn and Östhammar.
SKB already has operations in both municipalities that will continue to run for quite some time. The interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, Clab, is in Oskarshamn as well as the Äspö Laboratory and Canister Laboratory research facilities. The final repository for short-lived radioactive waste, SFR, is in Östhammar. All of these operations will be dependent for a long time on a well-developed local business community.
Continuing cooperation
“For SKB and its owners it is important to uphold good relationships and long-term cooperation with both municipalities. By reaching this agreement we wish to contribute together to the development of municipalities that are taking a major responsibility for an issue that is important from a national as well as local business perspective. Thus we are also strengthening the prerequisites for our own activities, as well as those of our owners, in both of these municipalities,” says Claes Thegerström, President of SKB, regarding the recent cooperative agreement.
Two billion SEK in added value
The municipal council in both districts has approved the cooperative agreement. The agreement includes development investments that will provide an added value of around two billion Swedish kronor to the municipalities, in the form of infrastructure, business development and education, for example. Many of the investments that have had a direct connection with SKB’s own operations will now be directed toward these two municipalities.
As part of the agreement, a collaborative partner with local enterprises is to be established in both municipalities. The concept, which was inspired by Vattenfall’s investments in the interior of Norrland, includes advising companies, guarantee commitments, and help with business development.
What will happen now?
Most of the investments included in the cooperative agreement will be made between 2010 and 2025. In the summer of 2010 SKB will submit applications for permission to build the Nuclear Fuel Repository. The greater part of these investments will be made after SKB has received the government’s permission to begin this construction.
Important nuclear energy municipalities
SKB is planning major construction projects in both municipalities. Projects include the encapsulation plant in Oskarshamn where nuclear waste is placed in copper canisters, and in the extensions to SFR, the final repository for short-lived radioactive waste in Östhammar. In addition, a plant that manufactures canisters is needed. In which municipality this plant will be located has yet to be decided.