Final Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel

The final repository for spent fuel will be situated at Söderviken which is located within the industrial area of SKB’s facility in Forsmark. At a depth of approximately 500 meters in the 1.9 billion-year-old rock, the final repository for approximately 12,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel is being constructed.

The construction of the final repository for spent fuel will take about 10 years. The facility will be the second final repository for spent fuel in the world, next to the Finnish facility which is being constructed using the KBS-3 method.

In parallel with the start of deposition of copper canisters in the completed tunnels, new tunnels are being constructed. This work will continue until all the nuclear fuel is deposited after which the repository will be back-filled and sealed.

The repository in numbers:

• Approximately 6,000 copper canisters are planned to be deposited in in the Spent Fuel Repository.
• Approximately 2.3 million cubic meters of rock be excavated over several decades.
• The total length of the tunnels amounts to just over 60 kilometers.
• Underground, the repository is three to four square kilometers in size. It is placed at a depth of 500 meters.