The Swedish government authorized on Thursday the construction and commissioning of a final storage facility for its nuclear waste, supposed to keep them for 100,000 years.
With our correspondent in Stockholm, Frederic False
Radioactive waste from Swedish nuclear power plants will be sealed in copper cylinders and lowered 500 meters underground, in granite galleries which are themselves filled with clay.
The device, supposed to keep this waste until it becomes harmless again in 100,000 years, was announced by the Swedish Minister of the Environment, Annika Strandhäll, for whom it is a historic decision. “ We do this to fulfill our responsibilities both to the environment and to humanity, but also for Sweden’s long-term electricity supply and for Swedish jobs. With today’s decision, we will become, together with Finland, a world leader in this field “said the Minister.
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The favorable inhabitants
Some scientists remain skeptical about the ability of copper to resist corrosion for so long, but the inhabitants of the municipality of Forsmark which will host the site, and where there is already a nuclear power plant, would be 85% in favor of the project: 1,500 jobs were promised for the digging of the galleries and the construction of the encapsulation plant, for 10 years. It will then take 70 years to fill these storage areas, which will be definitively sealed in 2100.
Sweden is the second country to have made this choice, after Finland, which has already begun digging its facilities, but has not yet authorized their commissioning.
Greenpeace lamented a decision with ” 100,000 years of consequences “. The environmental NGO denounces too much insecurity “around the solution and a government decision” irresponsible “.
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