SKB’s Social Science Research Programme

The research programme focuses on four areas, which have been identified by researchers and different reviewing bodies as relevant and central to the continued work on the nuclear waste issue, especially with respect to the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The four themes that have been highlighted are:

− Socio-economic impact. − Decision-making processes.

− Public opinion and attitudes – psychosocial effects. − Global changes.

In the first phase, eight different projects relating to these themes are being financed.

In KASAM’s view, it is a deficiency that the theme of global changes is only being investigated to a limited extent in the first phase. This is particularly the case, in view of the fact that SKB, in the plan of action presented in Appendix A, talks about rapid, radical and unpredictable societal changes which should be taken into consideration in connection with disposal safety. Furthermore, it is unclear to which extent the societal research programme is related to existing knowledge gaps that are relevant for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – the process of preparing the Environmental Impact Statement. However, since the first final reports from these research projects are not expected to be ready until autumn 2006, it is not meaningful to present further viewpoints on the individual research projects at this stage.

KASAM has noted that SKB has made an official announcement concerning the availability of research funds for the social science research programme. This approach is in agreement with KASAM’s view. Competition among researchers for research funding is an accepted way of enlisting the best expertise to resolve a research problem.

Bearing in mind the interest that KASAM has shown for a long time in societal research relating to the nuclear waste issue, it is natural for KASAM to follow the continued development of SKB’s social science programme with interest. In a proposal from December 2003, prior to the research policy bill that was submitted in spring 2005, KASAM emphasized the need for social science research in the interface between environment, sustainable development, town and country planning and decision-making processes. There is every need to, once again, emphasize this.

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14.3 KASAM’s Conclusions

• KASAM is satisfied to note that SKB has initiated a social science research programme and will follow SKB’s work in this area with great interest.

• KASAM would like to see SKB provide an account of how the results from the social science research programme will contribute to filling the need for knowledge in the nuclear waste area, for example, in helping to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement. (See also KASAM’s conclusions in Chapter 3.)

15 Alternative Methods

15.1 Background

The Swedish strategy for the management of spent nuclear fuel is direct disposal. Therefore, the main work in the area focuses on developing and building a geological repository where the spent nuclear fuel can be isolated from the biosphere (the living environment of humans and other living creatures) for hundreds of thousands of years, namely until the radioactivity has decayed. This is the basis of the Swedish KBS-3 concept. The Government has stated that SKB should use this method as a premise for planning the site investigations that SKB has been conducting for more than three years.

The Act on Nuclear Activities (1984:3) stipulates that anyone who has a licence to conduct nuclear activities is to be responsible for ensuring that measures are adopted to safely manage and dispose of nuclear waste arising in the activity. The Environmental Code (1998:808) stipulates that the best available technology should be used (Chapter 2 § 3) as well that alternative methods should be investigated and reported in the Environmental Impact Statement (Chapter 6 § 7) which should be submitted along with the applications for evaluating permissibility/licensing in accordance with the Environmental Code and the Act on Nuclear Activities.

Already at an early stage in the development process for disposal, it was clear that alternatives were necessary if the

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KBS-3 concept, for some reason, could not be implemented. In its decisions on SKB’s research programme, the Government pointed out that SKB should continue to monitor technological developments concerning different alternatives for the management of spent nuclear fuel. In its decision concerning RD&D Programme 2001, the Government has also assumed that issues concerning the alternative to be reported in the Environmental Impact Statement should be subjected to in- depth consideration in connection with the consultation stipulated by Chapter 6 of the Environmental Code.

In its review to the Government on RD&D Programme 2001, KASAM stated that the evaluation of the alternative issue requires that the basis for decision-making should be well supported, including an evaluation of partitioning and transmutation (P&T) as a possibly comparable method, which in turn assumes an up-to-date status report on P&T. KASAM stated that it was important for SKB to actively take developments into account and proposed that the Government request that SKB present a more detailed basis for evaluating SKB’s financial support for research and knowledge acquisition in the P&T area. KASAM also considered that SKB should be open to the possibility that such increased work within EU- financed research on P&T, which was discussed at the time, could lead to an increase in Swedish work. KASAM also proposed that the Government should examine the possibility of revoking § 6 and modifying § 5a of the Act on Nuclear Activities with the aim of promoting research in the nuclear area, which could contribute to alternative solutions for the management of spent nuclear fuel.