The scientific base for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel

The main objectives of the Swedish expert seminar on spent nuclear fuel disposal were to identify those safety questions for which there is, or will be, a definitive answer, and to establish the degree of uncertainty surrounding those questions which still cannot be satisfactorily answered. The opinion was that the geological environment of the repository can be defined and its behavior predicted with much confidence, assuming the existing environment remains stable. Thus in the short term (a few hundred to thousands of years), the situation is favorable for safe disposal of spent fuel. In the longer term perspective, it was considered necessary to further investigate the evidence of the geologically recent past to predict future changes.