Deep Geological Disposal of Nuclear Aaste in the Swedish Crystalline Bedrock

The KBS-concept for deep geological disposal of HLW or spent nuclear fuel has been developed in Sweden. It is based upon the multiple-barrier principle with encapsulation of the radioactive material in copper canisters that are placed at about 500 m depth and surrounded by bentonite clay in deposition tunnels in the crystalline bedrock. RD&D-work related to this concept has been performed since 30 years and, following more than 10 years large scale experiments in the SKB Encapsulation Laboratory and the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, the programme is now approaching industrial implementation. The Forsmark site, 100 kilometres north of Stockholm, was selected in June 2009 and a licence application for construction of the deep repository will be provided to the safety authorities by the end of 2010. Assessment of the long-term safety is a key issue for licensing of the repository and extensive scientific and modelling work related to barrier performance and risk assessments has been made. The status and main conclusions of this work will be presented and discussed.