Posiva To Work With Fennovoima On Hanhikivi-1 Final Disposal

22 Jun (NucNet): Posiva Solutions, a newly established subsidiary of Finnish nuclear waste management company Posiva, is to provide Fennovoima with services related to the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Services will include the planning and developing of the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel at the Hanhikivi-1 nuclear plant, which Fennovoima is building in Finland with Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The agreement includes ecological studies and geological surveys at two potential sites, Pyhäjoki, near the Hanhikivi site, and at Eurajoki, further south. Final disposal will begin in the 2090s at the earliest. Olkiluoto in Eurajoki is also the site of the Onkalo final repository being built by Posiva for its owners, Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) and Fortum. That site will be used for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel generated at TVO’s Olkiluoto nuclear station and Fortum’s Loviisa nuclear station. Fennovoima said it will examine Eurajoki as a whole and in addition to Onkalo there are unstudied areas in Eurajoki. The company said it is “premature” to say if Fennovoima’s spent fuel will end up at Onkalo. Site selection will not become an issue until the 2040s, Fennovoima said. The capacity of Onkalo will become clear in the 2020s “at the earliest”. Posiva has been developing a solution for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel since the 1970s and has carried R&D at the Onkalo characterisation facility. In Finland, each nuclear power company is responsible for the final disposal of its own spent nuclear fuel and related costs.