Swiss tunneller Implenia has been chosen to work on Sweden’s first underground repository for nuclear waste.
Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (SKB), the physique accountable for disposing spent gas, awarded the contract.
Implenia introduced final week that it had signed an “early contractor involvement” settlement with SKB, and would construct the primary underground part of the 500m-deep Spent Gasoline Repository, which is situated close to the Forsmark nuclear energy plant within the Östhammar municipality in jap Sweden.
It’s going to plan the venture’s phases, design and construct an entry tunnel to the primary storage stage, plus three shafts for air flow and elevators, and transport tunnels.
Planning begins this autumn with the primary waste anticipated by 2033.
Implenia mentioned the worth of its contract was “a number of hundred million Swiss francs”.
SKB chief government Stefan Engdahl mentioned Implenia had “strong experience and expertise in rock excavation and infrastructure tasks”.
The $11bn repository will occupy a 24ha seismically secure web site, storing waste in rock that’s 1.9 billion years previous.
Will probably be in a position to maintain about 12,000 tonnes of spent nuclear gas in 6,000 canisters, positioned in additional than 60km of tunnels.
The underground house required for that is about 4 sq km.
Implenia has lengthy been Switzerland’s main firm on robust excavation tasks. It gained expertise on boring transport routes by the granite and gneiss of the Alps. Most not too long ago, it received the Sisikon Tunnel close to Lake Lucerne and the Rogfast subsea highway tunnel in Norway.
Sweden generates about 40% of its electrical energy from nuclear sources. Its first era of reactors at the moment are decommissioned, or shall be shortly.
The nation had been seeking to part out nuclear energy, however in November 2023 the federal government introduced plans to construct two large-scale reactors by 2035 and the equal of 10 extra, together with small modular reactors, by 2045.
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