Spent fuel final repository

Preparations are being made for the final storage of all present and future spent fuel from the Olkiluoto and Loviisa nuclear power plants deep in the bedrock at Olkiluoto in Eurajoki. The final repository is scheduled to be available in 2020.

Prior to that, spent fuel is being kept in interim storage at the power plant sites. The spent fuel removed from the reactor spends a few years cooling in a pool of water in the reactor hall, after which it is moved to the spent fuel interim storage (KPA storage), where it is stored under water. The water acts as both a coolant and a radiation shield.

Under the Nuclear Energy Act, responsibility for nuclear waste management rests with the fuel producers, i.e. the nuclear power companies themselves. Research and development regarding the final repository for spent fuel from both TVO and Fortum Power and Heat Oy, together with the required expertise, has been concentrated at Posiva Oy, which was established in 1995 as a joint venture company of TVO. Posiva manages not only the research but also the building, use and sealing of the final repository itself. Further information on nuclear waste management can be found at the Posiva website, www.posiva.fi.

TVO is also involved in the Finnish Research Programme on Nuclear Waste Management.

Facts about the final repository Construction of an underground research facility, ONKALO, began at Olkiluoto in summer 2004. The purpose of this facility is to confirm the research results obtained by drilling from ground level regarding the suitability of the bedrock at Olkiluoto for excavating the final repository. The final reports and plans will be presented by the end of 2012. According to the Government Resolution, the application for the construction licence for the final repository must be submitted no later than 2016. The final repository, consisting of an encapsulation plant and the repository itself, will be built in the 2010s. The final repository is scheduled to be introduced in 2020.