Söderviken is in the Forsmark industrial area and will be the location of the ground-level facilities for the Spent Fuel Repository. A 5-kilometre ramp will be constructed from here down to a depth of about 500 metres. When construction is completed – by about 2070 – the repository will contain up to 60 kilometres of tunnels in an underground system with a capacity for 6,000 copper canisters of spent nuclear fuel. It is estimated that an area of about 4 square kilometres will be required for the construction.
Geotechnical engineering project
SKB is expecting to start construction in 2015, which would mean that the final repository for spent nuclear fuel could be completed by the beginning of the 2020s. The construction of the repository is extraordinary when it comes to nuclear safety.
Disposal
The copper canisters containing spent nuclear fuel will de deposited deep in the repository with the help of machines designed especially for this task and which can be remotely controlled with great precision. But if anything unforeseen happens it must be possible for the operators to repair the machines.
New tunnels will be excavated in parallel with the start up of disposal in the completed tunnels. This will continue for about 40 years until all nuclear fuel has been deposited in the repository. The repository will then be sealed. Throughout the operational phase geologists will continue to map out the rock and plan for new tunnels.
When the Spent Fuel Repository is in full operation there will be approximately 250 persons working there, half of whom will work above and half below ground level. Operational personnel will work with everything from research to safety management and facility services.