PR:The Swedish environmental movements won!

Press release January 23, 2018, posted January 24, 2018 by FMKK, Stockholm

The Swedish environmental movements won!
''Sweden's largest environmental objective: The final repository for nuclear waste. A historical event, the first country legal process on this issue in the world! The trial took five weeks of court.''

The Environmental Court does not approve the storage of spent nuclear fuel.

Today, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) and The Swedish Land and Environmental Court (MMD) have commented on The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company´s (SKB) application to build a spent nuclear fuel 500 meters underground deposit in Forsmark, on the coast north of Stockholm, with an encapsulation plant in Oskarshamn in southern Sweden.

It became a yes from SSM and a no from MMD. However, both agree on the need for improved safety analysis. SSM writes in its opinion (page 3):

"SKB may begin construction of the plant only after SSM issues pronouncement on final disposal, tested and approved a preliminary safety report (PSAR)."

MMD writes in its press release:

"The court can not find that the final repository is safe in the long run, based on the current safety assessment."

Eva Linderoth, Chairman of Milkas commented:

"Milkas agrees with the Land and Environmental Court's assessment. There are too many shortcomings in the nuclear industry's plans for the final repository in Forsmark.

The current solution with a large pool for interim storage in Oskarshamn must also be phased out as soon as possible due to that it requires active cooling. Without power to the plant there will be a crisis. As a temporary solution, a dry repository should be investigated, while the discussion will continue on a long-term solution.

The court's decision also means that the nuclear industry (SKB) has failed after all these around 40 years research and 60 billions SEK. Nuclear power will be phased out and Sweden will focus on sustainable energy solutions. A party independent of the nuclear industry must now be responsible for making proposals on the management of nuclear waste. This means that producer responsibility in the Environmental Code in terms of nuclear waste must be changed. "

Geophysics Professor Herbert Henkel commented:

"MDD also mentions that geological factors can be adversely affecting the safety issue. *** Placing the final repository in a suspected active large-scale shear zone with largely unknown function is of course overtaken by SKB without care. Further investigation of geology (which should be done in view of the MDD's remark) may impair the conditions for the site selection. "

Milkas, the nuclear waste secretariat, was established in 2004 by the People's Campaign against Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons (FMKK) and the Friends of the Earth.

For more information contact Eva Linderoth, tel. +46 (0)73 033 69 12, e-mail: info@milkas.se.

For Milkas' reports on the nuclear industry's plans for spent nuclear fuel see


 * http://nonuclear.se/kbs3