Posiva, a 60%-40% joint venture of Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) and Fortum, has submitted a construction licence application for a final repository for spent nuclear fuel to the Finnish Government.
The repository to be built in Olkiluoto, Eurajoki, has been designed for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel from the nuclear power plants operated by Posiva's owners, TVO and Fortum. A total of 9,000 tonnes of uranium fuel will be disposed of from the four existing plant units, Olkiluoto 3 currently under construction, and Olkiluoto 4 that is being planned. The application for a construction licence concerns a complex of two interconnected nuclear facilities, an above-ground encapsulation plant and an underground final repository. The complex also includes facilities intended for the final disposal of nuclear waste created during the operation and decommissioning of the encapsulation plant. The final repository will be built at a depth of 400–450 metres. The repository will consist of a tunnel network, to be built in stages, and the related technical facilities.