POWER March 2022 - 10

GLOBAL MONITOR
2. Brazilian officials want to finish construction
of Angra 3, a nuclear power project
stalled for several years. The reactor would
join two older reactors at the Angra site that
have operated since 1982 and 2000, respectively.
Courtesy: Eletronuclear
technologies, including its eVinci microreactor,
small modular reactors, and
AP1000 reactor for a utility-scale plant.
" We are well-positioned to support the
full
nuclear
lifecycle-from designing
new plants, to maintaining and operating
existing plants, and ultimately deactivation
and decommissioning, " Cowan said.
CPPI recently said enabling private
investment in new energy infrastructure
will " open the way for the development
of the Brazilian energy sector, motivating
the creation of an attractive environment
for investors, revitalization of water
resources and a structural reduction in
energy generation costs. " That private investment,
while supporting utility-scale
nuclear, also could support distributed
power generation as part of Brazil's energy
strategy. " Non-wire solutions like distributed
energy resource management
systems, or DERMS, enable operators
to take a more detailed look at how energy
is being used throughout their system, "
Bennett said. " Often, this reveals
opportunities to lessen stress on assets,
giving utilities more time to coordinate
system-hardening efforts efficiently and
cost-effectively. Taking it a step further,
asset health management systems enable
utilities to assess the health of
critical assets, such as transmission and
distribution transformers. "
The CPPI in a statement said, " Brazil
needs a strong, efficient and competitive
Eletrobras, capable of facing the investments
needed to meet the increase in
electricity consumption. In this sense,
capitalization is essential for a promising
future, not only for the company, but
also for the electricity sector as a whole.
To accomplish this mission, Eletrobras
needs a substantial volume of resources,
which the federal government does
not have. Creating an attractive environment
for investors will increase competitiveness
in the sector, which in turn will
reduce prices for the population. "
10
Government data shows Brazil has
8.5 GW of generation capacity, encompassing
243 power plants, scheduled to
come online this year, though developers
have said some projects are likely to
be delayed due to the pandemic. Data
shows 13.6 GW of generation capacity is
under construction, led by wind and solar
power installations. Projects totaling
another 42 GW of generation capacity,
including 26 GW of solar power, are in
the development phase.
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
Sweden's Government Approves
Construction of Spent Nuclear
Fuel Repository
Sweden's government in late January
gave radioactive waste management
company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering
AB (SKB) the green light to proceed
with a deep geological repository
(DGR) for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at a
site near Vattenfall's 3.2-GW Forsmark
nuclear power plant. The milestone,
which wraps up a planning process that
has taken more than 40 years, makes
Sweden only the second country, after
Finland, to take active steps on building
a permanent SNF repository.
SKB, a company established in the
1970s by Sweden's nuclear generators,
will now seek permits from the Land and
Environment Court and Swedish Radiation
Safety Authority. The entities are expected
to " establish conditions " for the $2 billion
(SEK 19 billion) integrated facility, which
will comprise a DGR at Forsmark in Östhammar
municipality and an encapsulation
plant next to an interim storage facility
in Clab, outside Oskarshamn municipality.
Clab today contains about 6,500 tonnes of
SNF, and SKB has suggested that by the
time Sweden's 12 nuclear reactors are
retired, its SNF storage needs will rise to
accommodate 12,000 tonnes.
SKB envisions that when the DGR is
" fully developed " at Söderviken (within
Forsmark's industrial zone) " sometime in
the 2080s, " it will include 60 kilometers
of tunnels with room for 6,000 copper
canisters holding up to 12,000 tonnes
of SNF. " The total volume of the space
required underground in the rock will be
about four square kilometers, " SKB said.
The project also envisions an expansion
of capacity at Clab from 8,000 tonnes of
SNF to 11,000 tonnes.
The DGR's construction will consist
of two parts: an operations area on the
ground surface and a deposition area below
ground (Figure 3). The underground
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facility will require boring several tunnels,
300 meters in length, to depths of up to
500 meters. " Eight-meter-deep deposition
holes are bored at intervals of six meters
in the tunnel floors, " SKB said.
The facility will use SKB's developed
KBS-3 containment method. The canisters,
each 5-meters-long and weighing
up to 27 tonnes, will comprise a copper
shell and an insert of nodular iron. Cannisters
will be deposited in deposition
holes surrounded by the bentonite buffer,
and bedrock. " Construction of the tunnel
system and deposition of canisters in the
Spent Fuel Repository will proceed in parallel
over a period of many years in separate
operation areas. When all deposition
holes in a deposition tunnel are full, the
tunnel is backfilled with clay. Finally, when
all canisters have been deposited, the
entire repository is backfilled, " SKB said.
However, " Only when all licenses are in
place can construction start, after which
time, it will take about 10 years to build
the spent fuel repository, " it noted.
The
government's
approval
stems
from efforts kicked off in 1977 with geological
surveys of Sweden's bedrock. In
1992, a site selection process was initiated
via a voluntary response approach.
In 2009, after five years of site investigations,
SKB selected Forsmark, submitting
a license application for the proposed
site and the KBS-3 containment method
to the government in 2011. More notable
milestones came in January 2018 and
October 2020, when the municipalities
of Oskarshamn and Östhammar voted to
approve the repository.
Sweden's nuclear generators have underscored
the urgency to build the DGR.
In May 2021, they reportedly posted an
urgent message via power exchange Nord
Pool that the Clab interim facility was reaching
full capacity. Sweden's nuclear fleet
currently includes six operating reactors,
which generate nearly 30% of the country's
power. State-owned utility Vattenfall
co-owns five units, including Forsmark
1, 2, and 3, and Ringhals 3 and 4, while
Oskarshamns Kraftgrupp (OKG) owns the
sixth, Oskarshamn-3. While Vattenfall says
it has invested in " extensive " modernization
programs and expects its reactors
are " well-prepared to operate for decades
ahead, " it warned last May that without a
long-term disposal solution, Forsmark 4
reactor faces potential closure in 2024, followed
by Forsmark 3 and Ringhals 3 and
4 the next year, with Forsmark 1 in 2028.
Solna-headquartered SKB, notably,
is majority held by Vattenfall (36%), followed
by Forsmarks Kraftgrupp (30%),
POWER | March 2022
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POWER March 2022

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