A permanent underground repository for spent nuclear fuel is to begin operations in Finland, safely storing waste for up to 100,000 years.
The facility, called Onkalo (Finnish for ‘cave’ or ‘hiding place’), is located in Eurajoki, in the west of the country. Engineered underground tunnels have been built into 1.9 billion-year-old bedrock more than 430 metres below the surface.
Onkalo is expected to operate until the 2120s and is designed to contain spent nuclear fuel for up to 100,000 years.
Following two decades of construction, Finnish nuclear waste management firm Posiva said the facility was set to receive final approval within months.
Tuomas Pere, a geologist at Posiva, said: “The isolation from nature and civilisation on the surface is important because of the radiation caused by the waste. By doing this final disposal, we can dispose of the waste more safely than by storing it on facilitates located on the ground surface.”
Many countries across the world are constructing similar...