Handling and final disposal of nuclear waste: Siting of a deep repository

The siting of the facilities for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and other long-lived<br/>nuclear waste is one of the central remaining tasks within the Swedish waste programme.<br/>Work relating to the siting of the repository is being conducted in stages and will<br/>continue for most of the 1990:ies. This report describes the background to, the goals<br/>for and structure of SKB &#39;s activities relating to the siting of a deep geological<br/>repository. The report describes the situation and plans at a relatively early stage of the<br/>siting process.<br/>SKB &#39;s work on the siting of a deep geological repository is based on the requirement<br/>in the Act on Nuclear Activities that nuclear power plant licence-holders shall &quot;safely<br/>handle and finally dispose of nuclear waste arising in the activity&quot;. This requirement<br/>means that it is the obligation of the nuclear industry to work to achieve the safe final<br/>disposal of all nuclear waste. An important part of SKB&#39;s work on siting is, thus, to<br/>focus all work relating to the disposal of nuclear waste on developing concrete<br/>applications of the design concepts for deep geological disposal which have been<br/>developed in the comprehensive RD&D programme. The knowledge required to<br/>achieve such a disposal of nuclear waste and to assess the long-term safety exists<br/>today.