Finland approves operation of ‘world’s first’ spent nuclear fuel final disposal facility

Germany's dpa news agency reported on the 23rd (local time) that the Finnish government has granted an operating permit to the world's first final disposal facility that stores spent nuclear fuel.

With this measure, Posiva, a nuclear waste management company, will be able to seal and permanently store high-level radioactive nuclear waste from a total of five commercial nuclear reactors in Finland at its facility.

This facility, named 'Onkalo', which means cave in Finnish, was built 400 meters underground through 1.9 billion-year-old stable bedrock on Olkiluoto Island in Eurajoki, a city in southwestern Finland where three nuclear reactors are located.

The operator will permanently store the spent nuclear fuel by sealing it in a special container made of cast iron and copper that is highly resistant to corrosion, lowering it into a hole drilled in the bedrock, and surrounding it with clay.

The Finnish government said Onkalo's useful life is about 100 years, after which the disposal facility will be completely sealed.

Finland's Minister of Climate and Environment Sari Multala emphasized, "Ensuring the safe and responsible use of nuclear energy, from the construction of nuclear power plants to the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel, is a responsibility we must carry across generations."

Posiva plans to begin actual operation of Onkalo after a trial run and on-site inspection by the Finnish Nuclear Safety Authority.

Meanwhile, since the construction of humanity's first nuclear power plant in the 1950s, each country has been struggling for tens of thousands of years over how to dispose of nuclear waste that emits high levels of radioactivity. According to AFP, most nuclear waste is currently stored in temporary storage facilities, and Sweden and France are also constructing permanent nuclear waste disposal facilities.