A Forsmark, 150 kilometers north of Stockholm, something unique is being born: a nuclear waste repository designed to last 100.000 years. A titanic work that defies time itself, destined to protect the environment from radiation when our civilization will be only a memory for archaeologists of the future.
Nuclear waste, the great challenge of the atom
Since the days of Homer Simpson (joke) we've all known that nuclear power plants produce radioactive waste. But what to do with it? It's a question that has haunted the nuclear industry since the first commercial reactor began humming in the 50s. Around the world There are approximately 300.000 tons of nuclear waste looking for a permanent home, according to World Nuclear AssociationMost are stored in cooling pools near the reactors that produced them. Not exactly ideal.
Sweden has decided to tackle the problem head on. The new Forsmark repository will be only the second of its kind in the world, after the Finnish one. The Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari He called it a turning point: “It is difficult to overstate the importance of this project for Sweden and for the climate transition.”
An underground labyrinth for the future
Imagine a 60-kilometer-long underground labyrinth, buried 500 meters deep in 1,9 billion-year-old rock. It's not the post-apocalyptic setting of the latest season of Silo, but the actual project of the Forsmark repository. Here 12.000 tons of nuclear waste will be stored, sealed in 5-meter-long corrosion-resistant copper capsules, packed in clay and buried.
La Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) Sweden expects the site to receive its first waste in the late 30s, but completion is not expected until around 2080. At that point, the tunnels will be filled and sealed. The cost? Around 12 billion crowns (1,08 billion euros), financed by the nuclear industry.
Nuclear waste, concerns abound
As in any self-respecting story, there are also those who raise doubts. The non-governmental organization MKG has filed an appeal asking for further security checks. According to some research by the Royal Institute of Technology Swedish, copper capsules could corrode and release radioactive elements into groundwater.
Linda Birkedal, president of MKG, points out: “We have time to wait ten years to make a decision, considering that it has to be safe for 100.000 years.” A reasonable point of view, considering what is at stake?
Sweden's Nuclear Future
The Forsmark repository will have space for all the waste produced by Sweden's current nuclear power plants. But there is one interesting detail: it will not be able to contain fuel for future reactors. Sweden is in fact planning to build 10 new reactors by 2045.
It's like preparing a cellar knowing that it won't be enough for all the bottles we want to store. A paradox that reminds us that, in the race to decarbonization, we must always think not only about the present but also about the future consequences of our choices.
A Matter of Time
One hundred thousand years. It's hard to really understand what this means. When this repository is still in operation, our civilization will probably be unrecognizable. To give you an idea, 100.000 years ago our ancestors were just starting to paint in caves.
It is an unprecedented engineering challenge: to build something that must last longer than any other structure ever built by man. The pyramids, by comparison, were built yesterday. It is a project that forces us to think in terms of geological eras rather than human generations. And perhaps that is its most valuable lesson.