Take a final look inside the 1,500ft-deep underground tunnels that will soon be shut off to humans for 100,000 YEARS
This subterranean tube will remain closed for 100,000 years as Finland conducts a nuclear waste first for the world.
The underground tube near Eurajoki, on the west coast of Finland, will be inaccessible to humans for almost 4,000 generations.
This is due to the fact that the nation constructed the first nuclear fuel tomb ever.
The Onkalo site is said to as a “model for the entire world” in terms of nuclear energy storage that is sustainable.
The garbage will be buried deep in the bedrock at Onkalo, which is 1,480 feet below the surface.
In 2025, the nuclear energy tomb close to the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant will formally be closed to the public.
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A few were fortunate enough to take a tour of the historic complex prior to its closure.
As she described her tour of the underground tunnel, BBC correspondent Erika Benke acknowledged that the thought of storing “highly radioactive waste for 100,000 years…makes me nervous.”
After being left alone in the pitch-black tunnel, Benke remarked, “I feel a moment of dread – I’m standing at a spot where starting from 2025, no human should set foot for 100,000 years.”
After being outfitted with safety gear, such as helmets with tracking devices, the group was driven through a security gate and into the eerily dark service tunnel.
To reach the Onkalo service station, which is 1,430 feet below the surface, the group must descend into the bedrock for 15 minutes.
They descended farther via the 2.8-mile tunnel, which also had regular signs indicating their depth and alerting the driver to the 12 mph speed limit.
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Benke clarified, “We’re shown a demonstration deposition tunnel,”
“The floor is uneven, damp, and muddy in some spots, and the entryway is much darker than the service area.
“The walls are bare bedrock that glints in the torchlight.”
The disposal system is being built by the radioactive waste management company Posiva Oy.
The spent nuclear waste will be put within a cylinder made of copper and cast iron, and the sealed canister will be covered with bentonite clay.
After that, there is a tunnel that encloses rock, backfills the holes with swellable clay, and seals the tunnels and surrounding area.
Robotic trucks will pick up each canister and transport it to the deposition holes, where it will stay indefinitely.
Last year, a joint functional test was conducted at the location without the use of nuclear fuel.
Following this test, the first five final disposal tubes were excavated, according to Posiva Construction Manager Juha Riihimaki, who spoke to World Nuclear News.
“Actual final disposal activities will begin in one of the tunnels around 2025,” he stated.
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According to Gareth Law, professor of radiochemistry at the University of Helsinki, the 860 million project has encouraged other nations, including the US, UK, France, and Canada, to adopt comparable nuclear energy storage strategies, he told the BBC.
Finland, according to Law, is “at least a decade ahead of everybody else.” Law is not participating in the project in Finland.
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