Finland’s nuclear regulator has received its third extension to complete the assessment of Posiva Oy’s operating license application for its spent nuclear fuel deep geological repository, Onkalo.
The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority’s May to November oversight report said it expects to submit its opinion on the application by June 2026. The previous due date was Dec. 31, 2025.
The Finnish nuclear regulator said the new timetable of June 2026 is possible, but tight for both the authority and Posiva, which is a Finnish waste management company.
Though the Finnish government gets the final say on Posiva’s application, a statement from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority is required. The Finnish regulator began its application review in 2022 and was originally expected to deliver a statement by the end of 2023.
Since then, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority has received multiple extensions, with this one being the third.
“As a whole, the processing of the operating license application is close to completion, but this has been delayed by deficiencies observed in the application documentation, updates due to plant changes made by Posiva and the extensive scope of the updates,” according to the report.
“In addition, STUK [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority] has identified uncertainties in the inspection of the safety case, the impacts of which on long-term safety still need to be analysed”, it added in the report.
Posiva is looking to operate the first geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and an encapsulation plant above ground. The repository is expected to be located 400–430 meters within the bedrock underground.
The company’s disposal facility, located in Olkiluoto, Finland, is currently under construction. It also began digging tunnels for its repository in 2021. The Finnish regulator issued Posiva its construction license in November 2015.
Posiva submitted its license application to the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in December 2021. The company is applying for a license that lasts from March 2024 to the end of 2070.