RD&D-Programme 2004 - SKB

Programme
The goal of SKB’s research on partitioning and transmutation of long-lived radionuclides is to:
• Examine how this technology is developing and how it will influence waste streams from
nuclear installations and their nuclide content.
• Judge whether, and if so how and when, this can be utilized to simplify, improve or develop
a system for final disposal of nuclear fuel from the Swedish nuclear power plants.
Research is being pursued in accordance with annual activity plans. Overall assessments are
made prior to important decisions in the nuclear waste programme. An overall assessment will
also be made in connection with the evaluation after the first stage of deposition of encapsulated
nuclear fuel in the deep repository.
SKB concludes that accelerator-driven systems is currently the alternative line of development
for partitioning and transmutation that is attracting the greatest interest, both in Sweden and
in many other countries. In view of the development situation, requisite resources and current
energy policy in Sweden, SKB does not deem it reasonable to undertake major development
projects on its own.
A question that was touched upon in the review of RD&D-Programme 2001 is what is a
reasonable scope of the Swedish research activities for P&T. Some universities and institutes
of technology thought that the scope of SKB’s activities was too small, SKI found them to be
of a reasonable scope in the given situation, while Kasam called for an inquiry to determine
a reasonable scope. The scope of the necessary efforts is of course dependent on the goal and
the level of ambition, but also on the time perspective. As is evident from the studies described
in brief above, the time perspective is very long. It will take several decades or so before the
technology could be ready for industrial application. Furthermore, the programme of research
and development that is required for success is of particularly large scope and can only be
carried out in broad international collaboration. The Swedish contribution can only be marginal
in this context. However, it is important to develop and maintain competence so that international
development efforts can be followed and assessed. When SKB became involved in the
research on P&T, the judgement was made that it is important to develop competence both in
partitioning and in transmutation. In view of the desire not to siphon off too many resources
from the prioritized area for research and development – deep geological disposal – it was
judged appropriate to support research and development at universities and other institutions of
higher learning, mainly as doctoral theses, and to concentrate this support on a couple of institutions.
Supporting research on partitioning and transmutation also contributes to the development
of specialist competence which is of interest and benefit in a broader perspective for the entire
area of nuclear waste and nuclear energy. As mentioned above, this was also pointed out by SKI
in its review of RD&D-Programme 2001.
The result of these arguments was that SKB undertook to fund research concerning partitioning
at the Department of Nuclear Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology (CTH) and concerning
transmutation at Department of Nuclear and Reactor Physics at KTH. In order to reach
an effective level, it was regarded as a minimum to have a couple of doctoral candidates at each
location, plus some faculty supervision and good opportunities for international contacts. Later
SKB also went in as a partial sponsor, together with the nuclear utilities and SKI and others, of
research on nuclear data at Uppsala University. Access to fundamental competence in the field
of nuclear data is necessary for all nuclear activities in the country.
SKB’s annual budget for P&T research has been around SEK 5 million in recent years; it is
SEK 5.2 million for 2004. The work largely funded by SKB has also enabled the three groups
to establish broad international cooperation both inside and outside the EU. This has in turn
meant that additional projects and funding have been obtained within the framework of the
EU programmes. In recent years, this funding has totalled around SEK 3 million annually.
SKB agrees with SKI’s judgement that the funds allocated by SKB to research on partitioning
318 RD&D-Programme 2004