Setterwalls has represented Östhammars kommun regarding SKB’s environmental permit application for the final storage of used nuclear fuel in Forsmark.

Setterwalls has acted as legal counsel for Östhammar Municipality in the processing of an environmental permit application under the Swedish Environmental Code for the final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark, which has been ongoing for almost a decade.

On October 24, the Land and Environmental Court issued a permit under the Environmental Code for the construction of the encapsulation plant Clink in Simpevarp in Oskarshamn Municipality and the final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark in Östhammar Municipality. The permit applies to the nuclear waste covered by the Swedish nuclear power plants, not for nuclear waste from any potential new nuclear power plants.

SKB applied for a permit under the Environmental Code for the final repository for spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste in 2011. The Land and Environment Court prepared the case, and in 2017 a five-week main hearing was held. The court submitted its opinion to the government at the beginning of 2018. The government gave permission to build a final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark under the Swedish Environmental Code in January 2022.

Östhammar Municipality approved the final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark using its right of veto in 2020. Of major interest for Östhammar Municipality is the long-term responsibility for the final repository, and on June 10, 2020, the Swedish parliament decided on legislative changes that clarified the state’s responsibility for the final storage of spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. Another issue of great importance for the Östhammar Municipality is the long term monitoring, and in the permit now granted, it is regulated in a condition that SKB, until the closure of the nuclear fuel repository, must conduct structured environmental monitoring regarding the final repository of spent nuclear fuel, information preservation, and monitoring of the final repository after closure.