SSM perspective
Background
In Sweden long-lived low- and intermediate level radioactive waste is planned to be disposed in a repository (SFL) in the Swedish crystalline rock at a depth around 500 m. The waste contains mainly the long-lived wastes from the operation and decommissioning of the Swedish nuclear reactor plants, as well as the long-lived wastes from early research in the Swedish nuclear program (legacy wastes), from medicine, industry and research including the European Spallation Source (ESS) research facility. The disposal concept for the SFL repository has been developed by SKB since the 1980th. A pre-study of the concept has been carried out (SKB TR-95-03) and a preliminary safety analysis (SKB TR-99-28) was previously published. The recently published safety evaluation of the SFL repository (SE-SFL, SKB TR-19-01) is a continuation of this conceptual development with the purpose of providing input to consecutive steps in the development of the repository.
The present report compiles the results from SSM’s external experts’ review of different focus areas of special interest to SSM in the authority’s review of the safety evaluation SE-SFL. The areas of interest are hydro geology, concrete degradation, radionuclide transport in the near-field and biosphere dose assessment. The general objective of these reviews has been to give support to SSM’s assessment of the evaluation and to the authority’s feedback to SKB on the continued development of the SFL repository concept and on SKB’s