The “early contractor involvement” contract includes the planning, design, and construction phases of an access tunnel to the first storage level, three vertical shafts for ventilation and an elevator, a central area, and main and transport tunnels—all at depths of up to 500 meters (1,640 feet).
The planning phase will begin this autumn and will include the establishment of outbuildings, workshops, and other necessary infrastructure in Forsmark. Preparatory work aboveground officially began in January.
Before mining is allowed to begin, SKB will need approval from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, which is currently reviewing the company’s safety analysis report. According to SKB, construction work to mine the repository will take just over eight years at a cost of several billion Swedish kronor.
The repository: In October 2025, Sweden’s Land and Environmental Court granted SKB an environmental permit to build and operate a geologic repository near Forsmark, about 86 miles north of Stockholm. The permit also includes the building of a spent fuel encapsulation plant at the central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at Oskarshamn, about 200 miles south of Stockholm.
The company expects both facilities to be ready for commissioning in the mid-2030s. Extension of the repository will continue until sometime in the 2080s, at which point it will contain more than 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) of tunnels.
The disposal method selected by SKB, called KBS-3, involves encapsulating spent fuel in copper canisters that will be surrounded by bentonite clay and placed in mined Swedish bedrock. The repository is being designed to hold 12,000 tons of spent fuel.
Quotes: “Building the deep repository is an important step in our mission to safely dispose of radioactive waste. We are pleased to have signed a collaboration agreement with Implenia, as Implenia possesses solid expertise and experience in rock excavation and infrastructure projects,” said Stefan Engdahl, CEO of SKB.
“The project requires a great deal of geological and technical tunneling expertise and precision,” said Erwin Scherer, head of civil engineering at Implenia. “Winning this contract is testimony to our many years of expertise in the planning and execution of large, multidisciplinary infrastructure projects, including our specialization in tunnel and energy infrastructure.”
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