Olkiluoto repository
The Olkiluoto [ ˈɔlkiluɔtɔ ] repository is a repository for radioactive waste on the island of Olkiluoto off the west coast of Finland in the municipality of Eurajoki around 25 kilometers north of the city of Rauma . The so-called VLJ repository (Finnish abbreviation VLJ-luola for voimalaitosjäteluola , literally “power plant waste cave ”) is used to dispose of low and medium level radioactive waste from the neighboring Olkiluoto nuclear power plant . At the same location, Posiva OY is building the world's first ONKALO repository for highly radioactive waste. Posiva OY is a joint venture between the Finnish power plant operators Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) and Fortum , who want to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from their nuclear power plants in ONKALO from 2020.
VLJ repository for low and medium level radioactive waste
Part of the repository is intended for low and medium level radioactive waste. The first site surveys were carried out in 1980, construction work began in 1988. In May 1992, the first waste was stored. The operating license is valid until the end of 2051.
The warehouse consists of two cavities in crystalline rock ( tonalite , surrounded by mica gneiss ) at a depth of 60 to 100 meters: one for dry, low-level radioactive waste from maintenance and one for bituminous, medium-level radioactive waste. Each of these cavities is 34 meters high and 24 meters in diameter.
The capacity of the plant is designed in such a way that it can absorb all low and medium-level radioactive waste (an estimated 9,500 m³) occurring during the 40-year operating life of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The repository can later be expanded to also store decommissioning waste and waste from the operation of new plants. The waste is stored in the form of concrete blocks, each of which contains 16 barrels. The storage capacity is 60,000 m³.
ONKALO repository for highly radioactive waste
Work has been going on in Olkiluoto since 2004 on a repository for high-level radioactive waste, which is supposed to receive the spent nuclear fuel from the reactors in Olkiluoto and the Loviisa nuclear power plant . The expansion of this part of the repository, also known in Finnish onkalo (cavity, cave, shelter), is also the subject of the documentary Into Eternity .
In November 2015, the Finnish government gave the operator Posiva permission to build a repository at a depth of 400–450 m for 6,500 tons of copper-encapsulated nuclear waste. The operating company promises to seal the storage areas with bentonite to protect against any moisture penetration .
The current schedule (2019) provides for the operating license to be applied for from the Finnish radiation protection authority STUK in 2020 and for storage to begin in the same year after it has been granted. The operating license is to be valid for 100 years and is based on the planned service life of the four nuclear power plants in Olkiluoto and Loviisa and the subsequent cooling of the fuel assemblies (radioactivity decay) before final storage. Another extension, e.g. B. for the third power plant currently under construction in Olkiluoto, must be re-applied for. After the operating license has expired, the repository will be finally sealed.
See also
Web links
- STUK - Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Nuclear safety (English)
- Posiva Website of the operating company in Finnish, English and Swedish
- Website of the power plant operator TVO on the management of radioactive waste (English)
Coordinates: 61 ° 14 ' N , 21 ° 27' E
Individual evidence
- ↑ DBE: Global Final Disposal - Europe. Finland. (No longer available online.) In: dbe.de. German Society for the Construction and Operation of Repositories for Waste Materials mbH (DBE), archived from the original on April 9, 2013 ; Retrieved March 7, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ONKALO , website of the operator Posiva Oy , accessed on June 20, 2014
- ↑ YLE website (Swedish): [1] , November 12, 2015
- ↑ Janne Mokka in an interview with FAZ, No. 130/2020, p. 18
- ↑ General Time Schedule for Final Disposal. Retrieved January 3, 2019 .
