| Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
- Fact Sheet
Finland’s Radioactive Waste Management Program
Low-level radioactive waste
In 1992, Finland’s Olkiluoto nuclear plant at Eurajoki began on-site
shallow geologic disposal of low-level radioactive waste. In 1998,
low-level radioactive waste was disposed of at Finland’s Loviisa
nuclear plant also.
Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive
waste
Spent nuclear fuel is kept in temporary storage at Finland’s reactor
sites pending repository licensure. Spent nuclear fuel is cooled
for one to three years in reactor pools, then shipped in transfer
casks for additional pool storage at the same site.
Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel
Finland stopped sending spent nuclear fuel to Russia for reprocessing
in 1996.
Transporting radioactive waste
Before 1996, Finland’s Loviisa nuclear power plant shipped its spent
nuclear fuel to Russia. Trucks carried the spent nuclear fuel destined
for reprocessing from reactors to railcars. Rail casks and transport
cars were leased from Russia. The last delivery to Russia took place
in 1996. Current Finnish law forbids the export of nuclear waste.
Deep geologic disposal plans
In May 2001, Finland became the first country to approve plans for
a geologic repository. The Finnish waste-disposal company Posiva
Oy will research possible sites and plans to start building the
repository in 2010. For more than twenty years, Finland has studied
nuclear waste disposal in crystalline rock. Recommendation for the
construction of a single, deep geologic repository for spent nuclear
fuel disposal was the outcome of a study conducted by Posiva Oy.
The Finnish waste package design and clay buffer system is being
developed in cooperation with the Swedish program, a good example
of the type of international cooperation that is occurring in radioactive
waste management. A Finnish repository would not begin operation
until 2020.
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
Yucca Mountain Project
1551 Hillshire Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89134
1-800-225-6972
http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov
DOE/YMP-0410
June 2001 |