Finland may become the first country in the world to carry out the final burial of nuclear waste. About this informs Wired.
The safest way to store spent nuclear fuel is to place it in deep underground storage facilities, as this fuel remains dangerous to human health for tens of thousands of years and radioactive for millions of years. However, the construction of such storage facilities is extremely difficult, and although several similar projects are under development, none have yet been completed. Currently, the leader in this field is Finland, where underground work is already underway to create a future storage facility.
In Finland, near the west coast, the first spent nuclear fuel encapsulation plant called Onkalo is being built. It will receive waste from all five of the country’s nuclear reactors, located on the island of Olkiluoto and Loviisa. The project is being implemented by Posiva Oy, a company established by Finnish operators of nuclear facilities to develop a safe and long-term solution for nuclear waste storage.
Active tests of storage technology are being conducted at a depth of 430 meters. Spent fuel rods will be placed in copper containers, which will be placed in specially prepared cracks in granite rocks. Bentonite clay is used for additional insulation and protection against possible rock shifts.
The construction of the Onkalo facility has already cost 900 million euros, and another 4 billion euros will be needed to complete it. The development of the project lasted for decades: they searched for the optimal place and received the necessary permits. Despite this, the project attracts both support and criticism. Local residents have expressed concern over the proximity to the future repository, and researchers have warned of possible corrosion risks for the copper containers, particularly due to exposure to sulphides in groundwater, which requires further scientific research.
