Scientists have assessed the reliability of the world's first "eternal" nuclear storage facility

The Finnish underground nuclear waste storage facility Onkalo is designed to isolate spent nuclear fuel for tens of thousands of years thanks to a system of engineering barriers and placement deep in crystalline rocks. However, as experts have noted, it is necessary to speak with great caution about a full guarantee of safety for such long periods of time.

For example, Dmitry Pripachkin, head of the Department of Radiation Physics and Safety of Nuclear Technologies at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, told the Science Mail on Thursday, August 6, that modern science does not have the tools to reliably predict the state of such facilities in 100,000 years. The expert noted that science is able to study the geological past, but it cannot predict events tens of thousands of years ahead with the same accuracy. According to him, therefore, assessments of the safety of such storage facilities inevitably go beyond science and partly depend on political decisions.

Iskhak Farkhutdinov, vice President of the Russian Geological Society, stressed that geologists do not talk about "absolute safety." Instead, experts estimate the likelihood that the geological environment will retain its protective properties under various scenarios, including glaciation, earthquakes, groundwater changes, and degradation of engineering barriers. At the same time, the models do not try to predict the future of the Earth in 100,000 years, but rather test the stability of the system to physically possible changes.

Pripachkin also recalled that humanity has not yet had experience operating such facilities for such a long time. According to existing estimates, special containers can provide protection for about a thousand years, after which the main burden falls on the geological environment.

Despite the existing uncertainties, both experts consider such projects necessary. In their opinion, deep burial remains the most scientifically sound way of handling highly radioactive nuclear waste available today.

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On August 4, the Finnish Center for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (STUK) supported the issuance of a license for the operation of the world's first Onkalo spent nuclear fuel storage facility, built next to the Olkiluoto NPP about 240 km from Helsinki. The cavity for the placement of spent assemblies is located in the rock at a depth of 400-450 m, notes 360.ru .

It is specified that this is the world's first project for the geological disposal of nuclear waste for a period of about 100 thousand years, writes RT. The operating permit has been previously issued for a period up to 2070, the website clarifies. kp.ru .

The center noted that the safety assessment of the facility has been conducted for more than 40 years, IA Regnum reports. The facility can be filled in after receiving permission from the Ministry of Labor and Economic Development of the country, Moscow 24 notes.

A law lifting the ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory also came into force in Finland on July 1, the NSN reports.