Workers inspect the Repository at ONKALO, a deep underground geological disposal facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki Island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
Finland is preparing to bury spent nuclear fuel in the world’s first geological grave, where it will be stored for 100,000 years.
The pioneering project has been welcome both a turning point for the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy and “a model for the world.”
Sometime next year or early 2026, highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel will be packed into waterproof casks and buried in bedrock more than 400 metres beneath the forests of southwestern Finland.
The sturdy bronze containers would be isolated, kept away from humans, and kept underground for thousands of years.
“Onkalo,” the brand name for the long-term disposal facility, is Finnish for cave or pit, an apt name for the repository, which sits atop a maze of tunnels and next to three nuclear reactors on Olkiluoto Island, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital Helsinki.
A worker walks at the turbine hall associated with OL3, the newest of three reactors at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
Founded in 1995, Posiva was tasked with handling the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel rods at Onkalo. The Finnish company is jointly owned by nuclear power company TVO and utility Fortum.
“Basically, the Onkalo project is that we are building a packaging plant and a spent fuel processing facility. And this project is not temporary, it is long-term,” Pasi Tuohimaa, director of communications at Posiva, told CNBC via video conference.
The fact is Finland [has] We have now built a repository and in the next year or two we will be operationalizing it and starting the processing… I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it wouldn’t be a bad way to frame it in a global context.
Gareth’s Law
Professor of Radiochemistry at the University of Helsinki
Tuohimaa said the first-of-its-kind geological processing facility has received a lot of interest from industry insiders, citing what he described as a “nuclear”Renaissance” in recent years and a energy crisis affecting Europe and parts of Asia from mid-2021 to late 2022.
“Finding a solution for handling spent fuel is like finding the missing piece in the sustainable lifecycle of nuclear energy,” Tuohimaa said.
The role of nuclear energy
Onkalo project has been heated debate on whether anyone can guarantee the long-term safety of spent nuclear waste and the extent to which atomic energy should be used in the fight against climate crisis.
Nuclear energy currently provides about 9% of the world’s electricity, according to for the World Nuclear Association.
Because it is low carbon, proponents argumentative that nuclear power has the potential to play an important role in helping countries generate electricity while cutting emissions and reducing their dependence on fossil fuels.
However, some environmental groups speak The nuclear industry is a costly and harmful waste in favor of cheaper and cleaner alternatives.
Finland is preparing to bury spent nuclear fuel in the world’s first geological grave. The Onkalo site is located next to three nuclear reactors on the island of Olkiluoto in southwestern Finland.
Credit: Posiva
“I work in the field of nuclear waste disposal and nuclear accidents and I have experienced both the best and the worst that the nuclear industry can offer,” Gareth Law, a professor of radiochemistry at the University of Helsinki, told CNBC via videoconference.
“Clean energy, cheap energy, baseload is good but I also see the bad side, the accidents, the waste generation and the problems that we have there,” he continued.
“Having a country now demonstrating that you can actually deal with this extremely hazardous waste, which is going to be around for 100,000 years, and we actually have a solution to deal with it, I think that shows that it’s doable.”
Finland ‘at least a decade ahead’
Law described the Onkalo project as a “milestone” for both Finland and the international nuclear power industry.
“Posiva is right to call this a world first. This will be the first place to receive spent nuclear fuel and process it in a way that I think will be very safe and efficient in the future.”
While many countries want to follow Finland’s example in disposing of spent nuclear fuel geologically, the Nordic country is “at least a decade ahead” of neighbouring Sweden, which is likely to be the next country to achieve such a feat, Law said.
Visitors tour the Repository at ONKALO, a deep underground geological disposal facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki Island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
“Scientifically and technically, it’s a very difficult thing to implement and enact, but politically, it’s also very, very difficult to get the momentum to implement this treatment scenario,” Law said.
“There are a lot of countries in the world that are still in the planning stage and are even just trying to figure out where to put their waste. So the fact that Finland [has] built a repository right now and in the next year or two we will be operationalizing it and starting the processing… I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it wouldn’t be a bad way to frame it in a global context.”
‘A model for the world’
Onkalo project is based on about the method called “KBS-3” developed by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, which is working on the world’s second final repository.
KBS-3 is based on a multi-barrier principlewhere a number of technical barriers seek to ensure the long-term safety of spent nuclear fuel. In practice, this means that if one of the barriers fails, the containment of radioactive waste will not be affected.
“This is a way to demonstrate that such a small country can sometimes solve one of the top 20 problems or challenges of humanity,” Finnish Climate Minister Kai Mykkänen told CNBC via videoconference.
“As we have seen over the past 10 years, nuclear energy seems to be a very important need for green deal in europe … but especially if we want to see Asia and the United States move away from fossil fuel electricity generation,” he added.
The repository at ONKALO, a deep underground geological disposal facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, photographed on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki Island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
When asked if the Onkalo project could be seen as a solution to nuclear waste sustainability, Mykkänen replied: “Yes, definitely.”
“I am sure that the majority of Finns, and even a large part of the population near Onkalo, see it the same way. People really see it as a more harmful energy alternative,” he added.
Mykkänen said he hopes the Onkalo project will be “a model for the whole world”.
