Sustainability at Fortum
Case: Responsible final disposal of nuclear waste – final disposal begins in Finland, the first in the worldNuclear waste management
Nuclear power plant produces electricity from uranium fuel. Spent nuclear fuel is radioactive, which means that it must be isolated from living nature long enough for its radioactivity to be reduced to harmless levels. This isolation is called final disposal.
Disposal of spent nuclear fuel
According to Finnish legislation, waste from nuclear power production in Finland must be disposed of in Finland and the responsibility for nuclear waste management lies with the power plant companies. Swedish legislation is similar in terms of responsibilities and the responsibility for nuclear waste management lies with the waste producer. Both the Loviisa nuclear power plant and Fortum's co-owned nuclear power plants in Finland and Sweden have the most advanced nuclear waste disposal solutions in the world.
The waste generated from the operation of a power plant is either managed as conventional (non-radioactive) or radioactive waste. Conventional waste is generated in a normal working environment, for example during the transport of goods, office work and in the canteen. Radioactive waste is classified as either low, intermediate or high-level waste, depending on how it is generated, its original purpose and its activity. At Fortum's Loviisa nuclear power plant, low and intermediate level waste is disposed of in a cavern excavated 110 metres below the surface of the rock at Loviisa Hästholmen.
The disposal of spent nuclear fuel from the power plants of Fortum and TVO at Olkiluoto is carried out by Posiva Oy, a company set up and owned by the two companies. The high-level spent fuel is planned to be disposed of in the Posiva Oy disposal facility at Olkiluoto in Eurajoki. Posiva Oy estimates that disposal could start during the 2020s.
In Sweden, SKB (Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB) is responsible for the management of waste from Fortum's partly owned nuclear power generation. A spent fuel disposal facility is under construction in Forsmark, Östhammar municipality, and is expected to be completed by the end of this decade. After construction and a trial operation period, it should be possible to start disposal operations in the late 2030s.
We have a solution
Nuclear energy production uses nuclear fuel made from uranium feedstock, packaged in metal fuel rods. The fuel rods are heated in the reactor and the spent rods are transported to an intermediate storage facility to cool down.
After the intermediate storage phase, the fuel rods are encapsulated in copper disposal capsules for transfer to disposal facilities at depths of more than 400 m. Finally, the space will be filled with bentonite to insulate the capsules and the fuel bundles inside them from erosive moisture. This multi-layered approach ensures that the spent fuel does not come into contact with biota and is allowed to settle in peace in the earth's crust.
