World's First Permanent Nuclear Waste Site Wins License in Finland

The world's very first permanent nuclear waste repository just got one major step closer to opening its doors for business. Posiva, the waste management company responsible for the project located in Eurajoki, Finland, just received its operating license for the Onkalo facility from the country's government. The solution that we have, it's the missing point for sustainable use of nuclear energy," said Pasi Tuohimaa, the communications manager for Posiva.

The site will encapsulate radioactive spent nuclear fuel in canisters designed to safely store the hazardous materials for 100,000 years, and then store them 400 meters 1,312 feet under the ground within nearly 2-billion-year-old crystalline bedrock. After 100,000 years, the radioactivity of the uranium within will be essentially neutralized due to natural exponential decay.