When the application from the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) was received by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, an assessment was first made regarding the application documents’ confidentiality, followed by an initial general assessment. The step-wise technical review process has now begun.
Confidentiality assessment
When the application was received, the first thing done was a confidentiality assessment of the documents in order to assess which parts of them could be presented on the Authority’s website and made available through the Registrar.
Initial acceptance review
This was followed by an initial acceptance review of the licence applications. The aim was to conduct a general assessment regarding the completeness of the application documents. This initial acceptance review took around four weeks. The application was viewed as sufficiently complete to enable the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority to begin its technical review work.
Technical review work
Consequently, on 27 May 2011, the project’s steering group decided that the technical review work could begin. The technical review work of the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority consists of two phases:
- The initial technical review phase
- The main review phase
The initial technical review phase is anticipated to formally continue until November 2012. This phase involves a broad review of the application documents in order to determine whether the licence applications are sufficiently complete and of sufficient quality to enter the extensive main review phase, which would then begin in November 2012.
National stakeholders to submit their views
When the initial acceptance review was completed, the application documents were referred to other bodies for consideration and comments. Over the years, staff of the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority have maintained dialogue with the external actors monitoring SKB’s work and who have also been interested in the Authority’s role in the process. Several of these stakeholders have received funding from the Nuclear Waste Fund for work in this area and have built up their own expertise in the field. The Authority wishes to use this interest and expertise in the area as a platform for requesting the views of national stakeholders on the entire application documents. The consultation responses are to have been received by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority by 1 June 2012.