The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) is reviewing a license application, which has been submitted by Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB), for a spent nuclear fuel repository at Forsmark.
This technical note records the findings from a project that forms part of the main phase of SSM’s license application review. The project involved review of reports and independent modelling studies on issues related to the potential solubility of radionuclides in waters that may enter the repository. The project was undertaken on behalf of SSM by TerraSalus Limited.
SKB has presented a conceptual model for calculating radionuclide solubility limits in a series of reports and papers that have been produced over several years. The model is scientifically based and founded on the principles of chemical thermodynamics. The traceability of SKB’s documentation has, however, been an issue that has hindered this and previous reviews (Baldwin and Hicks 2012; Trivedi 2012). It would be helpful if SKB were to compile a single, fully transparent and up to date document that presented its work on the selection and use of thermodynamic data, the identification and treatment of possible solubility limiting phases, and the estimation and use of radionuclide solubility limits in the SR-Site assessment.