{"id":12495,"date":"2011-05-02T19:21:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T02:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=12495"},"modified":"2018-02-02T00:40:15","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T00:40:15","slug":"swedens-nuclear-waste-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden’s Nuclear Waste Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the weeks to come, Climate Watch will launch a three-part radio series on the nuclear waste dilemma. As part of the reporting for that series, The California Report’s senior producer, Ingrid Becker, traveled to Sweden to examine a program touted as a potential model for the world. This dispatch from Becker is a preview of the series.<\/em><\/p>\n

How Sweden is getting some to say, “Yes, in my backyard,” Part 1
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The country that brought the world Alfred Nobel and his dynamite, Volvo cars and IKEA furniture is busy touting another invention.\u00a0 The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, or SKB, has asked for government permission to build what could become one of the world\u2019s first permanent geologic repositories<\/a> for spent nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
SKB public relations officer Brita Freudenthal encourages visitors to touch models of the copper canisters at the \u00c4sp\u00f6 Hard Rock Laboratory, where plans are being developed for permanent storage of nuclear waste. (Photo: Ingrid Becker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m in Sweden this month to learn just what this environmentally-conscious nation of nine million people can teach us about managing the radioactive refuse from commercial reactors. While the waste from California\u2019s two nuclear power plants — Diablo Canyon and San Onofre \u2013 is piling up in temporary storage containers (with still more at the decommissioned Rancho Seco plant, near Lodi), Sweden is moving forward with a program 30 years in the making, to safely dispose of the spent uranium dioxide pellets that fuel its ten reactors<\/p>\n

\u201dI believe it has been a strength that industry has had a clear task to solve the (waste) problem,\u201d says SKB\u2019s Chief Executive Officer Claes Thegerstr\u00f6m, in a recent interview<\/a> for the company website. \u201cWhen we began, we had right from the beginning a mix of experienced people from the industry. We had outgoing academics and, strong authorities, which allowed us \u2013 in contrast to the American way \u2013 to own the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week I\u2019m in Stockholm where we\u2019ll hear more about the Swedish example during a two-day gathering of social scientists, legal scholars, and industry experts, as well as political and community leaders from Sweden and abroad.<\/p>\n

One of my first stops on this Scandinavian tour was the underground laboratory where the Swedes are pioneering the so-called KBS-3 concept. The plan is to isolate the nuclear waste in copper canisters buffered by bentonite clay and then bury it 500 meters deep in crystalline bedrock, where it will remain for the next 100,000 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last fall, a delegation from President Obama\u2019s Blue Ribbon Commission on Nuclear Waste also came to explore the \u00c4sp\u00f6 Hard Rock Laboratory that sits outside the scenic town of Oskarshamn on Sweden\u2019s east coast. Now it was my turn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Buses carry an estimated 10,000 visitors a year into the tunnels at the \u00c4sp\u00f6 Hard Rock Laboratory in Southern Sweden. (Photo: Ingrid Becker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next post: “Hard Rock Cafe” — Ingrid goes underground to experience the Hard Rock Lab. Later this month she’ll tour the interim storage facility for all of Sweden\u2019s high-level nuclear waste and visit the towns where more than 80% of the population said it would be okay to put a spent fuel repository in their backyard.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Sweden is getting some to say, “Yes, in my backyard.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[391,392,570],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-12495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","category-power","tag-nuclear-power","tag-nuclear-waste","tag-sweden"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nSweden's Nuclear Waste Solution | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sweden's Nuclear Waste Solution | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How Sweden is getting some to say, "Yes, in my backyard."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-03T02:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-02T00:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/05\/aspo3_sm1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ingrid Becker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ingrid Becker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/\",\"name\":\"Sweden's Nuclear Waste Solution | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-03T02:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-02T00:40:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/ca01c3d761c18b0e2387b68a445e1c9d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/05\/02\/swedens-nuclear-waste-solution\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sweden’s Nuclear Waste Solution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/ca01c3d761c18b0e2387b68a445e1c9d\",\"name\":\"Ingrid Becker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/7a1a9d487c3f2bb84f32872c6208e138\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/795046840f00f7cdf9fd679c35e17a51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/795046840f00f7cdf9fd679c35e17a51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ingrid Becker\"},\"description\":\"Ingrid Becker is a former senior producer for KQED's statewide news service, The California Report. 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