Workers inspect the Repository at ONKALO, an underground disposal facility in deep geology designed to safely store nuclear waste, on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki Island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
Finland is on the verge of burying spent nuclear fuel in the world’s first geological grave, where it will be stored for 100,000 years.
The pioneering project existed was greeted as a turning point for the long-term viability of nuclear power and as a ‘model for the whole world’.
Sometime either next year or early 2026, the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel will be packed into sealed containers and deposited in bedrock more than 400 meters below the forests of southwestern Finland.
The durable copper vessels will be isolated, separated from humans, and kept underground for thousands of years.
“Onkalo”, which is the trademark of the long-term disposal facility, is the Finnish word for a small cave or pit. It’s an apt name for the repository, which sits atop a sky of tunnels and sits next to three nuclear reactors on the island of Olkiluoto, about 240 kilometers from the capital Helsinki.
A worker walks through the turbine room connected to OL3, the last of three reactors at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
Posiva was established in 1995 and is responsible for 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’re building an encapsulation plant and a spent fuel disposal facility. And it’s not temporary, it’s for good,” Pasi Tuohimaa, head of communications for Posiva, told CNBC via conference call.
The fact that Finland [has] build a repository now and in the next couple of years we’ll get it up and running and start the drop-off process… I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it wouldn’t be a bad way to frame it globally.
Gareth Law
Professor of Radiochemistry at the University of Helsinki
Tuohimaa said the first-of-its-kind geological disposal facility had received a lot of interest from industry players, citing what he described as a nuclear “renaissance” in recent years and an energy crisis that has hit Europe and parts of Asia from within. 2021 to the end of 2022.
“Having a solution for the final disposal of spent fuel was like the missing part of the sustainable life cycle for nuclear power,” Tuohimaa said.
The role of nuclear energy
The Onkalo project has sparked debate about whether one can guarantee the long-term safety of spent nuclear waste and the extent to which atomic energy should be used to combat the climate crisis.
Nuclear power currently provides about 9% of the world’s electricity, according to in the World Nuclear Association.
Being low-carbon, proponents argue that nuclear power has the potential to play an important role in helping countries generate electricity, curbing emissions and reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.
Some environmental groups, however, say the nuclear industry is an expensive and harmful distraction from cheaper and cleaner alternatives.
Finland is ready 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 both nuclear waste disposal and nuclear accidents, and I’ve experienced the best and worst of what the nuclear industry has to offer,” Gareth Law, a professor of radiochemistry at the University of Helsinki, told CNBC via conference call.
“Clean energy, cheap energy, good baseload, but then I saw the bad side, the accidents, the waste generation and the problems we have there,” he continued.
“To have a country now that is proving that you can actually take this very hazardous waste that’s going to be here for 100,000 odd years into the future, and we actually have a disposal solution for it, I think that shows that it can be done. “
Finland ‘at least a decade ahead’
Law described the Onkalo project as a “big milestone” for both Finland and the international nuclear industry.
“Posiva is very right to sell it as a world first. It will be the first repository to receive spent nuclear fuel and dispose of it in a very safe and robust way in the future.”
Law said that while many countries will want to follow in Finland’s footsteps in geologically disposing of spent nuclear fuel, the Scandinavian country is “at least a decade” ahead of neighboring Sweden, the next country likely to achieve such a feat .
On May 2, 2023, on the island of Eurajoki in western Finland, visitors are shown the ONKALO Repository, an underground disposal facility in deep geology designed to safely store nuclear waste.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
“Scientifically and engineering-wise, it’s very difficult to implement and enact, but also politically, it’s very, very difficult to get the momentum to make this disposal scenario happen,” Law said.
“There are many countries in the world that are still very much in the planning stages and are actually just trying to find somewhere to put the waste. So the fact that Finland [has] build a repository now and in the next couple of years we’ll get it up and running and start the disposal process… I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it wouldn’t be a bad way to put it in a global context.”
“A model for the whole world”
The Onkalo project is based on about the so-called ‘KBS-3’ method developed by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, which is working on what could be the world’s second final repository.
KBS-3 is based on a principle of many barrierswhere many constructed barriers seek to ensure the long-term safety of spent nuclear fuel. In practice, this means that if one of the barriers fails, the isolation of the radioactive waste is not compromised.
“It’s a way to show that such a small nation can sometimes solve one of humanity’s top 20 problems or challenges,” Finnish Climate Minister Kai Mykkänen told CNBC via conference call.
“As we’ve seen over the last 10 years, nuclear seems to be required in a very important way for the green deal in Europe … but especially if we want to see Asia and the US move away from fossil power generation,” he added.
The ONKALO Repository, a deep underground facility designed to safely store nuclear waste, is pictured on May 2, 2023, on Eurajoki Island, western Finland.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
Asked if the Onkalo project could be seen as a solution to the sustainability of nuclear waste, Mykkänen replied: “Yes, definitely.”
He added, “I’m sure that a clear majority of the Finnish population, as well as an even larger population near Onkalo, see it in a similar way. People really see it as a solution that replaces more harmful energy.”
Mykkänen said he hoped the Onkalo project would be “a model for the whole world”.
