Finland nearing opening of world’s first permanent nuclear waste repository

What the report says

Finland has taken a major step toward opening Onkalo, a long-planned underground repository for spent nuclear fuel in western Finland. According to Al Jazeera, the Finnish government granted the facility an operating licence on Thursday, after years of construction by waste management company Posiva. The approval does not yet mean the site is open, but Posiva said it expects operations to begin soon once the final commissioning work is completed.

The project has been under construction for 22 years and is described as the world’s first permanent underground repository for nuclear waste to receive a licence of this kind. Posiva said it still needs to finish tests and inspections, which must also be verified by Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. The site is designed to hold spent fuel from Finland’s five nuclear reactors.

The repository, known as Onkalo, is engineered to isolate radioactive waste for extremely long periods. Fuel will be sealed in copper canisters, placed in holes drilled into bedrock, surrounded by bentonite clay and closed with concrete plugs. Posiva says the facility has space for 6,500 tonnes of uranium. The company estimates the waste will remain highly radioactive for thousands of years, with radiation levels eventually declining to natural ore-like levels over roughly 100,000 years.

The development matters because countries have struggled for decades to find long-term solutions for nuclear by-products, which are usually kept in temporary storage. Similar final repositories are being developed elsewhere, including in Sweden and France, but Finland is now closest to becoming the first to operate one underground on a permanent basis.