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    • You're here  Responsibility › Corporate Social Responsibility › Environmental performance › Waste management

    Waste management

    The basic principle in TVO waste management is to isolate radioactive waste from the environment for a long enough time for its radioactivity to decay to a harmless level. Waste is classified according to its level of radioactivity into: waste removed from regulatory control; low-level and intermediate-level operating waste and decommissioning waste; and high-level spent fuel.

    Waste removed from regulatory control is not radioactive. It is either reused or taken to the TVO landfill.

    In recent years, waste sorting has been enhanced at the Olkiluoto power plant, and an increasing percentage of the community waste generated is reused.


    Final repository for spent fuel (Posiva Oy)

    Low-level and intermediate-level operating waste

    Low-level and intermediate-level operating waste is stored in a final repository excavated to a depth of 60 to 100 m at the power plant site, known by its Finnish acronym as the VLJ repository. Low-level waste includes fireproof fabrics, protective plastic sheeting and protective clothing used in power plant maintenance, and machine components and pipes removed from the power plant. These are packed into concrete boxes and stored in the cave. The ion exchange resins used to clean the process water at the power plant are intermediate-level waste. They are mixed with bitumen and cast into drums which are stored in the repository.

    Some of the structures of the nuclear power plant become radioactive during use; when the power plant is decommissioned, this decommissioning waste will also be stored in the cave.

    Spent fuel

    The spent fuel from the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant is placed in interim storage pending placement in a final repository. The interim storage facility is in the immediate vicinity of the power plant units and is known by its Finnish acronym as the KPA repository.

    By law, all nuclear waste generated in Finland must be processed, stored and placed in a final repository in Finland itself. The spent fuel from Olkiluoto and Loviisa nuclear power plants will be stored in a repository excavated deep in the bedrock under Olkiluoto in Eurajoki. The final repository is the responsibility of Posiva Oy, a TVO subsidiary. Placement in the final repository is scheduled to begin around 2020. The final repository will house spent fuel from the present and future power plant units at Olkiluoto and from the nuclear power plant in Loviisa.


    Funds deposited in the State Nuclear Waste Management Fund

    Under the provisions of the Nuclear Energy Act, the funds to pay for nuclear waste management are collected in advance in the form of a levy on the price of electricity generated by nuclear power. These funds are deposited in the State Nuclear Waste Management Fund. At the moment, the Fund has assets worth about EUR 1,500 million, and they will also be used to cover the costs of the future decommissioning of the nuclear power plants.