Each Contracting Party shall in due course take the appropriate steps to review: (i) the safety of any radioactive waste management facility existing at the time the Convention enters into force for that Contracting Party and to ensure that, if necessary, all reasonably practicable improvements are made to upgrade the safety of such a facility; (ii) the results of past practices in order to determine whether any intervention is needed for reasons of radiation protection bearing in mind that the reduction in detriment resulting from the reduction in dose should be sufficient to justify the harm and the costs, including the social costs, of the intervention.
H.2.1 Regulatory requirements
H.2.1.1 Existing facilities
The general safety regulations SKIFS 2004:1, apply to the operation of all types of nuclear installations, including facilities for treatment, storage and disposal of spent fuel and radioactive waste. The basic provi- sions regarding safety assessment and review and can be summarised in the following points:
Safety Analysis
Analyses of conditions that are of importance for the safety of a facility shall be carried out before a facility is constructed and taken into operation. The analyses shall subsequently be kept up-to-date. The safety analyses shall be based on a systematic inventory of such events, event sequences and conditions that could lead to a radiological accident.
Safety Report
A preliminary safety report shall be prepared before a facility may be constructed. A final safety report shall be prepared before the facility may be taken into operation. The content of the safety report is specified in the regulations. Before the facility may be constructed and taken into operation, the safety report shall be evaluated and approved by SKI. The safety report shall subsequently be kept up-to-date. In the updating of the regulations it has been clarified that the safety report (SAR) shall reflect the plant as built, analysed and verified and show how the valid safety requirements are met. Plant modifications shall be assessed against conditions described in the SAR. It has further been clarified that all plant structures, systems and components of importance for the defence-in-depth shall be described in the SAR, not only the safety systems. New safety standards and practices, which have been assessed by the licensee and found applicable, shall be documented and inserted into the SAR as soon as corresponding modifications or other plant measures have been taken. A few additional requirements on the contents of the SAR have also been added.
Safety Review
A safety review shall determine or check that the applicable safety related aspects of a specific issue have been taken into account and that SKIFS 2004:1 appropriate safety-related requirements with re- spect to the design, function, organisation and activities of a facility are met. The review shall be carried out systematically and shall be documented. A safety review shall be performed within those parts of the organisation responsible for the specific issues (”primary review”). A second safety review shall be performed by a safety review function appointed for this purpose and that has an independent position relative those parts of the organisation responsible for the specific issues (”secondary review”).
Safety Programme
After it is taken into operation, the safety of a facility shall be continuously analysed and assessed in a systematic manner. Any need for improvement regarding safety measures, engineering or organisational issues, which arise as a result of such analyses and assessments, shall be documented in a safety pro- gramme. The safety programme shall be updated on an annual basis.
Periodic Safety Review of Facilities
At least once every ten years, a new, integrated analysis and assessment of the safety of a facility shall be performed. The analyses and assessments, as well as the measures proposed on the basis of these
shall be documented and submitted to SKI. In the updating of the regulations, the requirements on Periodic Safety Review (PSR) have been made more stringent in order to use these reviews for assess- ment of time limited licensing conditions. This means that the Swedish approach to PSR becomes more in line with the European approach, where PSR is often used in the re-licensing of the nuclear power facilities. Modifications A safety review shall be performed for engineering or organisational modifications to a facility, which can affect the conditions specified in the safety report as well as essential modifications to the report. Before the modifications may be included in the report, SKI shall be notified and the Inspectorate can decide that additional or other requirements or conditions shall apply with respect to the modifications. H.2.1.2 Past practices
As described in the introduction, section A.7.2, a special fee is levied on the nuclear power utilities in accordance with a special law, the Studsvik Act, to cover expenses for managing nuclear waste from old experimental facilities, in particular the facilities at Studsvik, the Ågesta reactor and the uranium mine in Ranstad. The special fee is the same for all four nuclear power utilities, currently SEK 0.0015 per kilowatt-hour, and it is reassessed annually based on a proposal by the regulatory authority.
H.2.2 measures taken by the license holders
H.2.2.1 Existing facilities
Waste management at Nuclear Power Units
The contents of the safety reports at the nuclear power units were revised in 2001 and more details about the origin and treatment of waste was be included, especially with regards to traceability and documentation.
Final Repository for Operational Waste (SFR)
SFR, located at the FKA site, is a central final repository for operational waste from the nuclear power plants and for low an intermediate waste from Studsvik. The licensee for SFR, SKB, has made an agree- ment with FKA for the operation of the facility. FKA has implemented the requirements of the general regulations SKIFS 2004:1 in the operating organisation. SFR benefits from this since the management system for the operation of SFR is fully integrated with the management system for the operation of the nuclear power plants at the FKA site. SKB, as the licencee for SFR, is ultimately responsible for the implementation of the new regulations.
SFR has been in operation since 1988. A comprehensive monitoring and control programme has been in operation since the beginning of the construction work and will continue throughout the ope- rating period. Groundwater flows, water chemistry, rock movement, the performance of the bentonite barrier and the properties of the waste are all monitored. Furthermore, a programme for continuous monitoring of the environment is being conducted. The information from these control and monitoring programmes provides valuable data for safety assessments.
The licence conditions include a requirement for an update of the Safety Report (SAR) at least every 10 years. Prior to the introduction of the general regulations SKIFS 1998:1 (revised as SKIFS 2004:1), the requirement for a periodic safety review (previously called ASAR: As Operated Safety Analysis Report) was only a condition in the NPP licences. In the general regulations the requirement for a periodic safety review is mandatory for all nuclear facilities. In June 2001, SKB submitted an in- tegrated revised safety report and periodic safety review report for SFR called SAFE (see also H.5.2). In the regulators review, finalised in December 2003, of the SAR (SAFE 2001) the regulators required complementary information, e.g. on methods to determine the nuclide inventory in the repository. SKB submitted an updated SAR on the part covering operation of the repository in January 2008, and will submit the long-term safety analysis report in April 2008.
Early in 2007 SKB presented research results on methods to determine so called ”hard-to-measure” nuclides, i.e. C-14, Ni-59/63, Tc-99 and I-129, which indicated that the amount of some of these nuclides exceeded the operating license for parts of SFR or SFR as a whole. Based on these results, one of the re- gulators (SSI) in June 2007 closed SFR. To start the operation SKB had to apply for an updated operating license and further complement the information about the nuclide inventory in SFR. Based on SKB`s updated analyses, SSI re-opened SFR in March 2008 for all waste categories, except waste containing the highest amount of C-14 until further analyses has confirmed the C-14 inventory in the waste.
Temporary storage facilities at the NNP sites
Temporary storage for radioactive waste at the nuclear power plants, as described in section D.1.3, is in practice considered to be an integral part of the plant. The operation of the temporary storage facilities is therefore integrated with the operation of the nuclear power plants. Fulfilment of the requirements in the general regulation is thereby accomplished and verified through regulatory review and inspection activities at the nuclear power plants.
Temporary storage facilities at the Studsvik site
Temporary storage facilities for radioactive waste at Studsvik as listed in section D.1.4.2, have indivi- dual licences. Following the issuance of the SKI general regulations SKIFS 1998:1 (revised as SKIFS 2004:1) revised safety reports and safety programmes have been submitted to, and approved by, SKI. H.2.2.2 Past practices
The four utilities operating nuclear power reactors in Sweden formed a special company, AB SVAFO (Sydkraft, Vattenfall, Forsmark och OKG) to deal with their responsibilities according to the Studsvik Act. AB SVAFO was acquired by Studsvik AB in 2003.
According to estimates, SEK 1.8 billion will be needed up to the year 2045 to meet the expenses for these activities. The activities performed by AB SVAFO are closely monitored by SKI.
H.2.3 Regulatory control
At the time that the convention entered into force, the general safety status of the Swedish spent nuclear facilities was satisfactory. As accounted for in the first report under the Convention, SKI has developed its inspection practice as a result of the general safety regulations SKIFS 2004:1. These regulations, described in section E.2.2.4, provide a more structured approach to inspection and safety assessment and have generally improved the situation. Extensive inspections of the safety review function and ful- filment of the competence assurance requirement have been carried out.
Compliance with the requirements in the general safety regulations SKIFS 1998:1 concerning the assurance of competence was inspected in 2000 at all the nuclear power sites. These inspections showed a need for improved analysis tools, in order to define competence requirements, for other personnel groups than operating personnel for whom a systematic approach has been used for several years. Work was initiated within the implementing organisations at all the sites to improve the analysis tools, and was in principle completed by the end of 2002.
The conclusions of SKI from these inspections were that requirements concerning documentation of the new procedures were not fully met. There was also some disagreement with the licensees about how to conduct the independent safety review in relation to the primary reviews. This issue has been addressed in joint discussions with the licensees. The safety programmes required by each licensee according to SKIFS 1998:1 have been requested by SKI and were submitted by all sites in 2000 for review.
No formal requirements for the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste were established in Sweden until the late 1970’s.
As described in section A.5.1 in the introduction, the authorities performed a joint study during the mid 1990’s with the objective of improving the understanding of past practices regarding the manage- ment of radioactive waste. The report concludes that there is no indication of any waste containing plu- tonium or radium not being under satisfactory supervision. Another important conclusion in the report is the importance of keeping proper records.