site clean-up

L. W E R M E, Consultant, USA

DOI: 10.1533/9780857097446.2.438

Abstract: The chapter describes the historical background to the current radioactive waste (RAW) situation in the Nordic countries. It discusses the current management and final disposal of low level waste (LLW) and intermediate level waste (ILW) and the siting processes for a repository for spent nuclear fuel. Early nuclear activities in Sweden led to contaminated nuclear facilities and uranium mining sites. The chapter describes the ongoing remediation of these sites.

Key words: nuclear waste, repository siting, uranium mining, site clean-up, legal framework.

13.1 Introduction

The atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki alerted Sweden to the potential of nuclear energy. Until then, the programmes for nuclear physics research had been very limited. In the autumn of 1945, however, the Swedish Defense Research Establishment (FOA) asked for funding for preliminary studies. The military thought that it would be useful for a small country to possess an atomic bomb as a deterrent (Jonter, 2002). The peace­ful aspects of nuclear energy were, however, most important. In 1945 a committee, Atomkommitten, was formed. Its task was to plan future nuclear research and to find applications for peaceful use of nuclear energy. The committee came to the conclusion that the government should develop this new power source in cooperation with industry and in 1947 AB Atomenergi was constituted with the government as the main shareholder (Larsson, 1987; Elam and Sundqvist, 2006).

Much of the initial research was concentrated on producing uranium and separating plutonium from irradiated uranium. The idea was that Sweden should become independent and self-sufficient in energy supply. The uranium was to be mined from the shale deposits in south Sweden. Any import of uranium was at that time out of the question. With a limited supply of uranium, the solution was a heavy water reactor with natural or low enriched uranium. The heavy water was to be imported from Norway.

The first Swedish reactor, R1, put into operation in July 1954, was con­structed underground at the campus of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in central Stockholm. It was fuelled, however, with uranium bor­rowed from France. The agreement was that Sweden would return the uranium as soon as the Swedish uranium mines had gone into production.

R1 was a research reactor intended neither for energy production nor for plutonium production. Therefore, a second step was planned. In a sparsely populated coastal area with access to water, one or more reactors were to be built. The final location was Studsvik, where AB Atomenergi built its research centre. This was also the location of R2, a materials testing reactor, which was started in 1961 (see Fig. 13.1).

During the latter part of the 1950s, following a conference in Geneva, the nuclear weapons countries made available on the market enriched and natural uranium. The Swedish government issued a nuclear energy law in 1956, which allowed the development of nuclear power. This boosted the Swedish national nuclear programme and AB Atomenergi proposed the construction of two more reactors, R3 and R4. A group of private power companies had already in 1955 formed a consortium, Atomkraftkonsortiet (AKK). Their purpose was to follow the international development, propose reactor types and finally build a nuclear power plant (NPP) for the owners. AKK was first to propose light water reactors in Sweden.

The government policy was, however, still heavy water reactors and domestic supply of uranium. The programme was very optimistic, but it soon became obvious that the country did not have the means to carry it out. Of the originally foreseen five to six heavy water reactors built before 1965, only one was built and started in 1963 in Agesta in southern Stock­holm. This reactor was mainly used for district heating and operated until 1973. While Sweden concentrated on the heavy water line, light water reac­tors were developed in the US. The development of boiling water reactors (BWR) and pressurized water reactors (PWR) was rapid, while the Swedish national nuclear programme ran into difficulties. The programme included uranium production, fuel factories and reprocessing facilities. In 1965 the uranium production facility in Ranstad was opened. At the time, however, the cost for uranium from Ranstad was considerably higher than the world market price. Mining stopped in 1969 and the facility was closed in the early 1970s.

Vattenfall and AB Atomenergi had cooperated in building the Agesta reactor and were now planning a larger reactor in Marviken. The reactor design was changed several times and finally it was decided it should have a power of 400 MW and also be used for plutonium production. At the same time, AKK decided in 1959 to build a small BWR north of Oskarshamn. In 1965 AKK was transformed into Oskarshamns Kraftgrupp AB (OKG), and a BWR reactor was finally ordered in 1966 and in

operation in 1973. Following the order for the first reactor at Oskarshamn, 11 more reactors were ordered and put into operation during the following two decades.

The Marviken reactor was ready for test operation by 1968. That year Sweden had signed the non-proliferation treaty and there was no longer any reason for plutonium production. The result of a government investiga­tion published in 1968 led to the formation of ASEA-ATOM (1969), owned half each by ASEA1 and the state. The reactor design and nuclear fuel activities were transferred to this new company. AB Atomenergi continued as a research institute. This marked the end of the Swedish national nuclear programme. The Marviken reactor was never started. The legacy of the programme, however, was a uranium production facility and a pilot facility for reprocessing of nuclear fuel.

During the 1970s, the use of nuclear energy became increasingly contro­versial. In 1977, a new law required that the nuclear industry demonstrate how the nuclear waste was to be taken care of before any reactor could be fuelled. This led to the launching of the project Karnbranslesakerhet (KBS). The project finally resulted in the fuelling of all the reactors finalized after the law became effective. In 1981 a new law required that the nuclear power companies fund the future costs of nuclear waste management. The industry delegated a company, Swedish Nuclear Fuel Supply Company (SKBF, founded in 1973), jointly owned by Sydkraft AB (now E. ON Karnkraft Sverige AB), Vattenfall AB, OKG Aktiebolag and Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB, to perform the necessary research and development work. The company name was later changed to the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Manage­ment Company (SKB).

At this time, Sweden has in operation three BWR in Oskarshamn, three BWR in Forsmark and two BWR and two PWR in Ringhals. The two reac­tors in Barseback were closed in 1999 and 2005, respectively.

The Finnish situation was different from that in Sweden. Finland had been on the losing side in the Second World War and had to cede 10% of its territory to the Soviet Union and was, furthermore, obliged to pay 300 million dollars in war reparations to the Soviet Union, following the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty. The loss of Karelia also meant the loss of important hydropower plants. After the war, Finland only had about two-thirds of its hydropower left compared to the situation before the war. Finland lacked both energy and economic resources to embark on a nuclear research pro­gramme. Furthermore, the Paris Peace Treaty prohibited Finland from research and development of nuclear weapons materials. That, and the lack of resources, meant that Finland did not invest in a research reactor as early as the other Nordic countries. The expanding Finnish industry, however, needed electricity and the potential of nuclear energy for electric power generation was recognized early (Anttila, 2000; Kojo, 2006).

After President Eisenhower launched the ‘Atoms for Peace’ initiative and the possibilities of having access to nuclear energy without a costly

XASEA (Allmanna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget) bought the state’s share of the company in 1982. After ASEA merged with the Swiss Brown Boveri Corporation forming ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri), the name was changed to ABB Atom. Since 2000, the company is part of the Westinghouse Electric Company as Westinghouse Electric Sweden (2003).

domestic development programme, the Finnish Academy of Science sug­gested the formation of an Atomic Energy Committee in 1954, which the Finnish government then set up in 1955. The tasks of the committee included investigating the suitability of nuclear energy in Finland. Parallel to this, the industry established a company, Atomienergia Oy (Atomic Energy Ltd), primarily to satisfy the interests of the forestry industry. A milestone in Finnish nuclear research was taking into operation a TRIGA-type research reactor in 1962. This reactor is still in operation.

In 1965, the state-owned energy company, Imatran Voima (IVO, now Fortum Power and Heat Oy, FPH) put out to tender for a nuclear power plant to different suppliers, and in 1969 IVO decided to buy from the Soviet Union. Two PWR-type reactors were ordered and put into operation in 1977 and 1980 at Hastholmen near Loviisa. In 1969, the private industrial companies formed Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) and the following year TVO decided to build two reactors. These were BWR reactors from ASEA ATOM and they were taken into operation in 1978 and 1980 in Olkiluoto. At present, TVO is having a third reactor constructed. Finland is, therefore, the only Nordic country expanding its nuclear energy capacity with new reactors.

There is no commercial electricity-generating reactor in Norway. In fact, over 99% of all electricity in Norway is produced by hydropower (OECD — NEA, 2005). Norway has, however, been very active in nuclear research. This started immediately after the Second World War, first at the Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI) from 1946 and later at the Institute for Nuclear Energy (IFA, now Institute for Energy Technology, IFE), which was founded in Kjeller in 1948. Norway’s and also Scandinavia’s first nuclear reactor, JEEP, was started at IFA as early as in 1951 (Oberlander et al, 2009; OECD-NEA, 2005). In all, there have been three research reactors at IFA, JEEP (1951-1967), NORA (1961-1967) and JEEP II (1967-). In addition to these, there is a fourth research reactor, the Halden boiling water reactor (HBWR) in Halden.

As was the case for Norway, there is no commercial electricity-generating reactor in Denmark. Three research reactors, DR 1, DR 2 and DR 3, have been operated at the Ris0 National Laboratory. They were started between 1957 and 1960 and are now all shut down, and DR 1 and DR 2 are fully decommissioned (Dansk Dekommissionering, 2006, 2009).