The Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste
The Council possesses a broad scientific knowledge in natural science, technology, the social sciences and the humanities in order to give a broad perspective to issues relating to nuclear waste, spent fuel and decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities.
The Council actively participates in international cooperation and events on issues relating to management of radioactive waste, including the working group under the auspices of Nuclear Energy Agency: Forum on Stakeholder Confidence and Working group. The Council’s members regularly contribute to international conferences and have participated in internationel research projects. The Council makes international study visits, which are important components in the dialog with researchers and officials in other countries in order to gain new knowledge and to get their view of the Swedish process.
Committee terms of reference - Directive 2018:18
The Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste was established 1992 (directive 1992:72), superseded by the supplementary directives 2009:31 and 2018:18.
The Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste shall from 2018 report the previous year's work and its independent assessment of the nuclear waste field every two years, instead of annually. The Nuclear Waste Council's mission will be limited to 31 December 2022. The mission can then be extended for a maximum of five years at a time. These directives replace the directive 2009:31.
Directive 2018:18
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Directive 2009:31
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Our activity
A report on the state of the art in the nuclear waste field is published every other year (from 2018).
Every three years the Council submits its independent assessment of SKB’s research, development and demonstration activities (the RD&D programmes).
SKB submitted its applications for a final repository for spent nuclear fuel in March 2011, and the applications were approved by the Government in January 2022.
The Council makes a scientific review of the work of the industry. We also follow the review work of the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and the Environment court.
The purpose of the Council’s activities is to give well-founded advice to the Government. By reviewing SKB’s research reports and by holding a dialogue with concerned municipalities and regional councils, environmental organizations, politicians and regulatory authorities we identify issues that need to be more thoroughly investigated and recognised. We investigate and recognise these issues by means of seminars, workshops and scientific analyses. We document and communicate the results in various forms for example in RD&D review reports, State of the art reports, other reports and newsletters.