Finland licences world's first nuclear waste repository

Finland has granted an operating licence for the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository, which waste management company Posiva says will be the world's first permanent disposal site for radioactive spent nuclear fuel.

The repository is built in ancient bedrock at Eurajoki in southwestern Finland. Posiva said operations are expected to start soon, but no exact date has been set because commissioning tests and inspections still need to be completed and approved by Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority.

Onkalo is designed to store spent fuel from Finland's five nuclear reactors. It has space for 6,500 tonnes of uranium.

The fuel will be sealed in copper canisters, lowered into holes drilled in underground tunnels, surrounded with bentonite clay and finally sealed with a steel-reinforced concrete plug. Posiva says the fuel will remain highly radioactive for tens of thousands of years.

The site has been estimated to cost $1.16 billion. Similar final repositories are being built in Sweden and France, but Finland is expected to be the first country to open one.