Finland Could Be the First Country in the World to Bury Nuclear Waste Permanently
1 min read
Summary
With more countries looking to decarbonise energy production and the tech sector requiring power for AI systems, nuclear power is experiencing a revival.
This will heighten the pressure to find a solution to nuclear-waste disposal.
The most viable solution appears to be long-term storage in an underground facility that can contain spent fuel safely for at least 10,000 years; but such facilities have to be purpose-built, and no country has yet succeeded in completing one.
Finland is the closest to doing so and, as this article notes, has dug the underground chambers necessary for its repository.
Storage involves placing spent fuel rods inside copper canisters, which are then inserted into slots dug into the granite walls of the subterranean repository; the whole thing is then sealed with bentonite, a soft plastic clay that insulates the containers.
Five test canisters have been successfully stored in this way in a disused tunnel, at a cost of €900 million, with a further €4 billion estimated to be needed to complete the project.
