The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (Stuk) had earlier said that both the operating safety and the long-term safety of Loviisa’s final disposal facility were “at a good level”, Fortum said in a statement. Stuk also said the necessary procedures and resources were in place to continue safe operation.
The final disposal facility, more than 100m underground at the power station site east of Helsinki in southern Finland, has been in operation since 1998.
Fortum is planning to expand the facility so that eventually radioactive waste generated from the decommissioning of Loviisa can be placed there. The expansion is planned to be completed in the late 2040s, before decommissioning begins.
Fortum plans to use the facility to dispose of all the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated during Loviisa’s operation and decommissioning and small amounts of radioactive waste generated elsewhere in Finland, such as decommissioning waste from the state-owned VTT research centre, which carries our r=nuclear research.
The revised operating licence covers the final disposal of all these wastes into Loviisa’s final disposal facility.
Spent fuel generated at Loviisa will be disposed of at nuclear waste management company Posiva’s used nuclear fuel disposal facility, jointly owned by Fortum and TVO, which owns and operates Finland’s only other commercial nuclear station at Olkiluoto, west of Helsinki.
That repository is under construction at Eurajoki, near the Olkiluoto nuclear power station, and is expected to begin operations in the mid-2020s.
