Finnish nuclear waste management company Posiva Oy on Tuesday awarded a 20 million euro ($21.3 million) contract to YIT Construction Ltd. for excavation of the first tunnels for Finland’s final disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel at Eurajoki near Olkiluoto.
The Finnish government approved Posiva’s repository site in 2001, and the company submitted its construction application in 2013. Spent fuel from the Teollisuuden Voima and Fortum nuclear plants will be stored in copper canisters and embedded in Olkiluoto bedrock at a depth of 400 to 450 meters, according to Posiva. Final disposal of spent fuel, which will take about 100 years, is expected to begin in the 2020s. The facility, which is projected to cost roughly 800 million euro ($852 million), will have a storage capacity of 6,500 tons.
YIT will start excavation in December, and the project phase is expected to last two and half years, according to Posiva’s announcement. The work will involve digging the repository’s first central tunnels and vehicle access tunnels, as well as rock sealing operations ahead of canister installation.
Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority concluded on Nov. 25 that Posiva is ready to begin construction, allowing the first phases of the project to start. Finland granted Posiva its construction license in November 2015.
“Preparations for the construction stage have proceeded well, and we are now able to start the first actual excavation work phase for the final disposal facility together with YIT,” Posiva President Janne Mokka said in a statement.
