AFP, EURAJOKI, Finland
The elevator display reads “433,” the number of meters 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.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 byproducts 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 in Sweden and France, but Finland is expected to be first to open an underground storage solution.
The “hot cell” fuel handling chamber at the encapsulation plant of nuclear waste management company Posiva in Eurajoki, Finland, is pictured on May 18.
The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) is due to give approval in its final assessment this month, after which an operating licence can be granted. “We hope we can start the operation either at the end of this year or most probably at the beginning of next year,” said Philippe Bordarier, chief executive of nuclear operator Teollisuuden Voima Oyj.
