On March 22, 2023, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, SSM, sent an opinion to the Swedish government regarding the nuclear waste company SKB's research programme Fud-2022, that was submitted to the authority for review in the fall of 2022. In October the government gave the nuclear waste company an opportunity to submit an opinion on both SSM's opinion and the more critical opinion on Fud-2022 that the now dismantled Swedish Nuclear Waste Council sent to the government in December 2022. On November 8 the company in an opinion supported everything SSM says and did not mention the council's opinion with a wordhttps://www.mkg.se/en/the-skb-rd-research-programme-report-fud-22-is-available-in-english. On December 21, the government approved the research programme.
The R&D research program that is developed by the nuclear industry's nuclear waste company SKB every three years is the regulator’s and the government's opportunity to control the research that the company does. The opportunity was not taken this time either, despite the fact that there are important unanswered questions about the copper canister's long-term integrity and the ability of the clay buffer around the canister and the clay in the nuclear fuel storage tunnels to keep tight.
The Swedish NGO Office for Nuclear Waste Review, MKG, wants SSM to have a much more proactive role in research matters in the continued evaluation of the planned repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark in the authority's step-by-step review according to the Nuclear Technology Act.
More information on the government’s decision in a news article on the MKG Swedish site.
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