The SFR repository is situated 60 metres below the bottom of the Baltic Sea and began operations in 1988. The facility comprises four 160-metre-long rock vaults and a chamber in the bedrock with a 50-metre-high concrete silo for the most radioactive waste. Two parallel kilometre-long access tunnels link the facility to the surface. The facility currently has a total final disposal capacity of about 63,000 cubic metres of waste.
The plan is that the repository, when extended, will have six new rock vaults, 240-275 metres long. The intention is to construct the extension at a depth of 120-140 metres, level with the lowest part of the current SFR repository. On completion the facility will have a total storage capacity of about 180,000 cubic metres.
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The blue area shows where SKB plans to extend the existing SFR repository (Image: SKB)
Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (SKB) signed a collaboration agreement with Skanska in July 2023 regarding the expansion of the SFR repository. The existing agreement for the design phase (phase 1) is now supplemented by a contract for the production phase (phase 2). The production phase is divided into several stages and separate contracts for each stage are signed successively.
The latest contract covers rock works, civil works, earthworks and water and sanitation works, and tunnel lining.
Construction of the new rock caverns is planned to start in the third quarter of 2026. The contract is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2028, and the complete facility is expected to be ready for test operation in 2030-2031.
Rock construction work got under way in December 2024. Blasting work 45 metres below ground began in January 2025, marking the start of the expansion of the existing SFR repository.
Most of the short-lived waste deposited in the SFR comes from Swedish nuclear power plants, but radioactive waste from hospitals, veterinary medicine, research and industry is also deposited within it.
The project to expand the SFR is being carried out to create space for low- and intermediate-level operational and decommissioning waste from Sweden’s nuclear power plants. Many Swedish nuclear power reactors have already been shut down and are to be dismantled and demolished. The decommissioning waste that contains radioactivity will be finally disposed of in the SFR. This includes reactor components, metal, concrete and other building materials.
