Onkalo is a game changer for the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today in Olkiluoto, Finland, referring to the world’s first ever deep geological repository for spent fuel, under construction there.
“Finland has had the determination to move forward with the project and to bring it to fruition,” Mr Grossi said. “Waste management has always been at the centre of many debates about nuclear energy and the sustainability of nuclear activity around the world. Everybody knew of the idea of a geological repository for high-level radioactive nuclear waste, but Finland did it.”
This deep geological disposal facility is being built in Olkiluoto, off the south-west coast of Finland, near one of the country’s nuclear power plants.
Up to approximately 450 metres below ground level, spent fuel from all of Finland’s nuclear power reactors will be isolated in Onkalo for thousands of years. The repository is based on the ‘KBS-3’ disposal concept developed by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), in close cooperation with Posiva Oy, the Finnish company responsible for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Read more about the repository here.
“In Finland, the state’s energy policy, the will of the owners and skilled personnel are all in the same package," said Janne Mokka, President and Chief Executive Officer of Posiva Oy, during Mr Grossi's visit to Onkalo. "This kind of project is great to lead. Our expertise is also available to industry players around the world.”
Near the repository is the Olkiluoto plant, consisting of two operating units and a third ꟷ Olkiluoto 3 ꟷ that is still under construction. Mr Grossi visited the Olkiluoto site, where TVO, Finland’s national nuclear operator, takes care of the entire nuclear fuel cycle: from electricity production to the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. In Olkiluoto he met President and Chief Executive Officer of TVO Jarmo Tanhua, with whom he discussed, in addition to Olkiluoto 3 and the Onkalo repository, nuclear safety and security, safeguards implementation and the importance of nuclear power in the fight against climate change.
