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Radioactive waste and uranium successfully returned to Sweden
Sellafield Ltd and International Nuclear Services (INS) have successfully returned Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) and uranium product to its Swedish customer AB SVAFO.
This impressive project began in October 2007 when 4.8tU of spent fuel from Sweden’s first
research reactor was transported from the Studsvik site, where it had been stored since the
early 1970s.
The fuel was reprocessed in the Magnox Reprocessing Plant at Sellafield in 2008, where the
useful uranium and plutonium products were recovered from the spent fuel.
The ILW and uranium product were returned as part of the contract between the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority and AB SVAFO. The shipment has fulfilled UK Government
policy for waste to be returned to overseas customers following reprocessing of their nuclear
fuel in the UK.
The contract was managed on behalf of NDA by INS. INS Commercial manager Barry Hart
said: “This project has involved close working relationships between AB SVAFO, INS and
Sellafield Ltd. I am delighted that the ILW and uranium has been returned successfully and I
would like to thank everyone involved for their contribution.”
Henrik Stridsman, Acting Managing Director of SVAFO, said: “This marks the safe and
responsible completion of an important step in the decommissioning programme following
early Swedish nuclear research.”
Sellafield Ltd and INS have more than 40 years experience of transporting radioactive cargoes including
spent nuclear fuel, high level waste, plutonium and nuclear fuels without any incident resulting in the
release of radioactive material.
