HELSINKI — The Finnish Government has granted Posiva Oy an operating licence for its spent nuclear fuel encapsulation plant and final disposal facility at Olkiluoto in Eurajoki, western Finland, the government announced, in what the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment said is the first operating licence issued anywhere in the world for a final disposal facility of this kind.
Source: Government of Finland
"As a result of more than 40 years of systematic efforts, Finland will launch the first final disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel in the world," Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala said in the government statement. The licence runs until the end of 2070 and follows a favourable safety statement from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) dated August 4, 2026, the government said.
The licence allows Posiva to encapsulate and permanently dispose of up to 6,500 tonnes of uranium in spent fuel from the Olkiluoto and Loviisa nuclear power plants — roughly 3,300 disposal canisters — in the Onkalo repository, built at a depth of more than 400 metres in bedrock about 1.9 billion years old, according to the government statement and AFP reporting carried by TechXplore. Construction began 22 years ago. "This is a great and historic day for both Posiva and Finland," Posiva chief executive Ilkka Poikolainen said, according to AFP.
Source: AFP via TechXplore
Spent fuel will be sealed in corrosion-resistant copper canisters, lowered into boreholes in the tunnels, surrounded by bentonite clay and sealed with a steel-reinforced concrete plug, AFP reported. The fuel will stay highly radioactive for tens of thousands of years; Posiva says its radioactivity will fall to a level comparable to the uranium ore it came from after about 100,000 years.
An operating licence is not the same as waste going underground tomorrow. Before final disposal begins, Posiva must finish commissioning tests and inspections, which STUK also needs to verify and approve, and Posiva has given no exact start date, AFP reported. Once operations are fully established, the plan reported by the ministry is to dispose of no more than 60 canisters a year, with disposal expected to continue into the 2120s before the repository is backfilled and closed, after which responsibility passes to the Finnish State.
The licence also covers limited volumes of low- and intermediate-level waste, capped at 3,000 cubic metres in total, of which no more than 1,500 cubic metres may be disposed of, the government said. Countries have been wrestling with what to do with spent nuclear fuel since the first plants were built in the 1950s, and most of it still sits in temporary storage, AFP noted — which is why Finland's step is being watched by nuclear programmes worldwide.
What is solid
- Finland's government granted Posiva an operating licence to the end of 2070 for the Olkiluoto encapsulation plant and Onkalo repository — Government of Finland
- It is the first operating licence of its kind in the world, and follows STUK's favourable safety statement of August 4, 2026 — Finnish ministry via government statement
- Licence cap is 6,500 tonnes of uranium from Olkiluoto and Loviisa, at a depth of more than 400 metres — Government of Finland and AFP
What is only claimed
- When disposal will actually begin — Posiva has given no exact date and STUK must still verify commissioning, so any start timeline is not yet fixed