Together with our sister project Nuclear Waters (KTH Stockholm), the Nuclear Natures team went on an excursion to the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant and nuclear waste repository east of Uppsala in Sweden this April. The aim was to explore the interplay between nuclear power, nuclear waste and natural environments on the ground. For some of us, it also was the first visit inside a nuclear power plant (as lowered covid restrictions finally permit such visits again).

On the first day, Inger Nordholm, controller and responsible for forestry and land ownership questions at the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, SKB, gave us an introduction into the history of the repository. There is currently one active repository for low and medium level waste at the site; another repository for high level waste is awaiting final approval before construction begins. This site is projected to hold all of Sweden’s spent nuclear fuel in the future. Inger then also showed us around the forest above the planned high level waste repository. Here, all kinds of environmental monitoring and experiments are taking place since SKB has to guarantee the protection of the ecosystem above the repositories.

Day two was dedicated to the visit of the nuclear power plant with guide Albin Ahlbom.

On the final day, we were guided around the biotest lake where the outflow of the plant is channeled into an artificial basin. Beyond monitoring radioactivity and other effects of the power plant on the natural environment – such as fish being sucked into the plant with the cooling water and warming water temperatures through the outflow from the plant, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences also engages in further research on climate change in the basin.

Throughout the trip, we also made time for moments of reflection and for planning further activities within the project. Overall, we experienced three full days of nuclear natures.