Eurajoki (Finland) (AFP) – The elevator display reads "433", the number of metres below ground. The doors slide open, revealing the entrance to what is expected to be the world's first permanent repository for radioactive spent nuclear fuel.
Issued on: 01/06/2026 - 07:45
Blasted into 1.9 billion-year-old stable bedrock in Eurajoki, southwest Finland, the geological repository for spent nuclear waste -- dubbed Onkalo which means "cave" in Finnish -- is nearly ready to start operations.
Countries have been wrestling with what to do with dangerous nuclear by-products since the first plants were built in the 1950s. Currently, most of it is in temporary storage.
Final repositories are being built in other countries, including neighbouring Sweden and France, but Finland is expected to be first to open an underground storage solution.
