SKB is a company whose purpose is to deal with radioactive waste from Swedish nuclear power plants. The company has applied for the necessary permits for, inter alia, a facility for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. The Government has decided to permit the activities in accordance with the Environmental Code and to grant a permit in accordance with the Nuclear Activities Act. Six environmental organisations applied for judicial review of the Government’s decisions. The organisations were of the position that the decisions violate the general rules of consideration in the Environmental Code, that SKB’s environmental impact assessment is inadequate and that the Government ought to have carried out a so-called Natura 2000 assessment. The Supreme Administrative Court found that the decisions taken by the Government do not violate the general rules of consideration. Nor had anything come to light according to which the Government incorrectly assessed facts or exceeded the limit for the discretion which the rules of consideration provide. The Supreme Administrative Court furthermore concluded that there is no requirement for a more thorough description in the environmental impact assessment in the manner claimed by the applicants. Thus, the Government’s decision to approve the environmental impact assessment could not be deemed to violate any legal rule. Finally, the Supreme Administrative Court found that the Government was not required to carry out a Natura 2000 assessment prior to the contested decisions. There was, therefore, no cause to overturn the permissibility decision on that basis. Accordingly, the Supreme Administrative Court found that the decisions taken by the Government do not violate any legal rule and that the decisions shall therefore be upheld.
Read the judgment here: