US EditionFinland’s Onkalo Nuclear Repository Nears Opening After Decades of Work
Posiva says the $1.2 billion site can store 6,500 tons of spent fuel as Finland prepares its first permanent nuclear waste repository.
- Finland is set to launch the world's first permanent spent nuclear fuel repository at the Onkalo facility on Olkiluoto island, becoming a final resting place for radioactive waste after decades of construction.
- Radioactive rods will be sealed in copper canisters and buried 400 meters underground, packed with bentonite clay "buffer" layers to ensure safety, according to Posiva, the company managing the site.
- A 1994 act requires Finland to handle and permanently dispose of all radioactive waste within its borders, reflecting the country's long-term nuclear policy, said Environment Minister Sari Multala.
- Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, warned that geologic disposal remains fraught with "uncertainties," though he acknowledged it is the "least bad option."
- To warn future generations 10,000 years from now, Austrian artist Martin Kunze developed a "nuclear message" system using robust ceramic plates suggested for burial in foundations around the repository.
25 Articles
25 Articles
Finland prepares launch of permanent underground nuclear waste facility
Finland is preparing to launch the world’s first permanent underground structure for storing nuclear waste, marking a major breakthrough towards finding a solution for one of nuclear energy’s most difficult problems. The Onkalo nuclear waste repository, is built deep inside 1.9 billion year old bedrock and is designed to store highly radioactive waste for up to 100,000 years. Source
Ancient bedrock will soon house 1st permanent nuclear waste site
The world-first facility for permanently disposing spent nuclear fuel is set to begin operations in Finland after decades of construction. Construction of Onkalo — which means “cave” in Finnish — began on the west coast in 2004 as the site…
Billion-dollar nuclear waste site buried 1,400 feet underground nears launch
For decades, one of the main challenges facing nuclear energy has been how to safely and effectively store the radioactive waste produced by the process. In Finland, experts hope they have found a viable solution: burying the waste in bedrock over 1,000 feet underground. More than 20 years in the making and costing over $1 billion, the soon-to-be-operational Onkalo facility will be capable of storing 6,500 tons of radioactive nuclear waste, ac…
This 1.9 billion-year-old bedrock will soon house the world's 1st permanent nuclear waste site
After decades of construction, the world's first facility for permanently disposing spent nuclear fuel is set to begin operations in Finland, becoming a final resting place for tons of dangerous radioactive waste.
Associated Press News
A 1.9 billion-year-old bedrock will soon house the world's first permanent nuclear waste site
The world-first facility for permanently disposing spent nuclear fuel is set to begin operations in Finland after decades of construction.
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