Workers inspect the repository at ONKALO, a deep geological disposal underground facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, on May 2, 2023, on the island of Jurajoki in western Finland.
Jonathan Nakstrand | AFP | Getty Images
Finland is about to bury spent nuclear fuel in the world’s first geological grave, where it will be stored for 100,000 years.
This groundbreaking project has cheer This is both a watershed moment in the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy and “a model for the world.”
Sometime next year or early 2026, the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel will be packaged in waterproof tanks and deposited into bedrock more than 400 meters beneath the forests of southwestern Finland.
The durable copper jar will be isolated from humans and stored underground for thousands of years.
“Onkalo” is the brand name for the long-term disposal facility, which means small cave or pit in Finnish. The aptly named repository sits atop a dense cluster of tunnels on the island of Olkiluoto, adjacent to three nuclear reactors and about 240 kilometers from the capital, Helsinki.
A worker walks in front of the turbine room connected to OL3 at the latest of three reactors at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on the island of Orlajoki in western Finland, on May 2, 2023.
Jonathan Nakstrand | AFP | Getty Images
Posiva was established in 1995 to handle the final disposal of Onkalo’s spent nuclear fuel rods. The Finnish company is jointly owned by nuclear power company TVO and utility company Fortum.
“Basically, the Onkalo project is that we are building an encapsulation plant and a spent fuel processing facility. This is not temporary, this is permanent,” Posiva communications director Pasi Tuohimaa told CNBC via video conference.
In fact, Finland has now built a repository and within the next year or two we will operate it and start the disposal process… I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it won’t be a miracle to build it in the global context. Bad way.
Gareth Law
Professor of Radiochemistry, University of Helsinki
Tuhima said the first geological disposal facility had attracted significant interest from industry players, citing what he described as a nuclear “renaissance” in recent years and the energy crisis that had engulfed parts of Europe and Asia since the mid-1990s. .
“Having a solution for the final disposal of spent fuel is like the missing piece in the sustainable life cycle of nuclear energy,” Tuhima said.
The role of nuclear power
Nuclear energy currently provides about 9% of the world’s electricity. according to World Nuclear Energy Association.
Because nuclear power is a low-carbon energy source, proponents believe it has the potential to play an important role in helping countries generate electricity, reduce emissions and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.
However, some environmental organizations explain The nuclear industry is an expensive and harmful interference with cheaper, cleaner alternatives.
Finland prepares to bury spent nuclear fuel in the world’s first geological grave. Onkalo Nuclear Power Plant is located next to three nuclear reactors on the island of Olkiluoto in southwestern Finland.
Image source: Posiva
Gareth Law, a professor of radiochemistry at the University of Helsinki, told CNBC via video conference: “I work in nuclear waste management and nuclear accidents. I have experienced the best and worst scenarios that the nuclear industry has to offer.”
“Clean energy, cheap energy, good baseload, but I also see the bad side, like accidents, waste generation and the problems we have there,” he continued.
“Now that a country is proving that you can actually deal with this very hazardous waste that is going to be here for the next hundred thousand-plus years, and that we actually have a treatment solution, I think that shows that this is It can be done.
Finland ‘at least ten years ahead’
Law described the Onkalo project as a “major milestone” for the Finnish and international nuclear power industry.
“Posiva is quite right to market this as a world first. It will be the first repository to collect spent nuclear fuel and dispose of it in a way that I think is very safe and robust for the future.”
Rau said that while many countries hope to follow Finland’s lead in geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel, the Nordic country is “at least a decade ahead” of neighboring Sweden, which is next in line to potentially achieve the feat.
On May 2, 2023, visitors visited ONKALO’s repository, a deep geological disposal underground facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, on the island of Jurajoki in western Finland.
Jonathan Nakstrand | AFP | Getty Images
“It’s a very difficult thing from a scientific and engineering perspective to put this in place and enact, and it’s also very, very difficult from a political perspective to get the momentum to move this forward,” Law said.
“There are many countries around the world that are still in the planning stages or even just trying to find places to put their waste. So Finland has now and within the next year or two a repository has been set up and we’ll operate it and start the treatment process…I Don’t want to call it a miracle, but it’s not a bad way to frame it in a global context.
“A model for the world”
Onkalo project is based on The so-called “KBS-3” approach developed by Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management is investigating what could become the world’s second final repository.
KBS-3 is based on Multiple barrier principlewhich has several engineered barriers designed to ensure the long-term safety of spent nuclear fuel. In practice, this means that even if one of the barriers fails, the isolation of radioactive waste will not be affected.
“This is a way to show that such a small country can sometimes solve one of the 20 biggest problems or challenges that humanity may face,” Kai Mykkänen, Finland’s climate minister, told CNBC via video conference.
He added: “As we have seen over the last decade, nuclear energy appears to be a very important requirement for the European Green Deal… but particularly if we want to see Asia and the United States move away from fossil electricity Production.
ONKALO’s repository, a deep geological disposal underground facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, was photographed on May 2, 2023, on the island of Eurajoki in western Finland.
Jonathan Nakstrand | AFP | Getty Images
Asked whether the Onkalo project could be considered a solution for nuclear waste sustainability, Mykkänen replied: “Yes, of course.”
He added: “I’m sure the vast majority of Finns, and many more people around Onkalo, see it in a similar way. People do see it as a solution to replace more harmful energy sources.”
Mikkanen said he hoped the Onkalo project would become “a model for the world.”
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