Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management : 6th Finnish National Report as referred to in Article 32 of the Convention
Säteilyturvakeskus
23.10.2017
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-309-391-1
STUK-B : 218
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-309-391-1
STUK-B : 218
Kuvaus
1. painos
Tiivistelmä
Executive summary
Introduction
The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was adopted on 29 September 1997 at the Vienna Diplomatic Conference. Finland signed the Convention on 2 October 1997 and deposited the tools of acceptance on 10 February 2000. The Convention entered into force on 18 June 2001. This report is the 6th Finnish National Report under the Joint Convention in accordance with the provisions of Article 32. It will be subject to review in May 2018 in the sixth Review Meeting of the contracting parties in Vienna. The fulfilment of the obligations of the Convention and the development of waste management after the Fifth Review Meeting, during the reporting period 2014–2016, are assessed in this report.
There are currently two nuclear power plants operating in Finland: Loviisa and Olkiluoto plants. The Loviisa plant comprises two VVER-440 units (Russian type pressurised water reactors), operated by Fortum Power and Heat Oy (FPH). The Olkiluoto plant comprises two BWR units (boiling water reactors); operated by Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) and a third PWR (pressurized water reactor) unit is under construction. In addition, Fennovoima Oy (Fennovoima) has applied for a construction licence for one pressurised water reactor (AES-2006) at Pyhäjoki.
Spent fuel from the nuclear power plant units is stored in interim pool type storages at the power plant sites for tens of years until disposal. The interim spent fuel storages have already been in operation for about 30 years. The safety of the interim storages was enhanced during the reporting period. The spent nuclear fuel disposal project has progressed as planned. The construction licence for the encapsulation and disposal facility was granted by the Government to Posiva in November 2015 and the construction of the geological disposal facility started in Olkiluoto in December 2016. Fennovoima started the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of its own spent nuclear fuel disposal in summer 2016.
Geological disposal facilities for low and intermediate level waste have been in operation since the 1990s in Olkiluoto and Loviisa. In the future, the Olkiluoto facility is planned to be extended for operational waste from the OL3 unit and decommissioning waste from all reactor units in Olkiluoto. The disposal facility in Loviisa will be extended for decommissioning waste from the Loviisa NPP units. Fennovoima has planned to build a geological disposal facility for its low and intermediate level waste at the Pyhäjoki site.
Major developments in Finland since the 5th Review Meeting are as follows: there has been real progress in spent nuclear fuel disposal, as well as the enhancement of spent fuel interim storage safety, in addition improvements have been made in NPP’s LILW management and non-nuclear radioactive waste disposal, and there has been significant progress in the planning of the research reactor decommissioning. Furthermore, the legislative and regulatory framework has been enhanced, national competences for future needs have been evaluated and developed, and the IRRS follow-up mission (IAEA’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service) was carried out in Finland. Only the main achievements are presented in this summary section. More detailed information on the latest developments in the various topics of the Convention is provided in connection with the relevant articles. Section K summarises the main achievements from the reporting period and also presents Finland’s future challenges in nuclear and radioactive waste management.
Since the 5th Review Meeting
The 5th Review Meeting in 2015 identified challenges, and recorded some planned measures to improve the safety of nuclear waste management in Finland. On request of the Review Meeting these issues and the responsed are included in this 6th National Report of Finland. The issues are listed here, with the related references provided in brackets. A summary of how Finland has proceeded with the identified challenges during the reporting period is given in Section K.
Finland – Challenges
• Construction and oversight of the spent fuel (SF) disposal facility (Section H, Annexes L.2 and L.3)
• Decommissioning and waste management of the FiR 1 research reactor (Article 9, Article 26, Annex L.5)
• Ensuring adequate resources and competence in tough economic situations (utilities, waste management organizations, and Government) (Article 20, Article 22)
• Communication with public and stakeholders to maintain confidence in safe waste management and regulatory framework (Article 20)
• Disposal of a few High-Activity Sealed Sources (HASS), which are not suitable for disposal in existing LILW repositories (Section J).
Finland – Planned Measures to Improve Safety
• Licensing of the encapsulation plant and the disposal facility for encapsulated spent fuel (Section H, Annexes L.2 and L.3)
• Implementation of recommendations from the IRRS review (Article 20)
• Licensing of research reactor decommissioning and start of dismantling activities (Article 9, Article 26, Annex L.5).
The legislative and regulatory system has been enhanced
The current Finnish nuclear legislation is based on the Nuclear Energy Act from 1987, together with a supporting Nuclear Energy Decree from 1988. The Nuclear Energy Act has been revised several times over the years. The revision of the Nuclear Energy Act in 2015 enabled STUK to issue legally binding regulations. Based on the Nuclear Energy Act, STUK issued four regulations in 2016 to replace the earlier Government Decrees on nuclear safety for nuclear power plants, the security in the use of nuclear energy, the emergency response arrangements at nuclear power plants, and the disposal of nuclear waste. In addition, one new regulation for the safety of uranium and thorium production was issued.
Development of national competences for future needs
STUK’s role and responsibilities were assessed in a peer review, as part of the IRRS mission (IAEA’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service), in October 2012. In the followup mission in June 2015 the regulatory activities in Finland were reviewed based on the IAEA Safety Standards and international best practices. The main conclusion of the IRRS follow up mission was that STUK had made significant progress in most areas and many improvements had been implemented in accordance with the action plan.
The implementation of the recommendations from the “Nuclear Energy Research Strategy”-report from 2013 is on-going by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE). The main aim is to ensure the availability of the competent resources for the safe use of nuclear energy. As an example of the on-going implementation of the recommendations, the Nuclear Energy Act was updated in 2015 to ensure the financing of the enhancement of the nuclear safety research infrastructure.
In addition to the basic training given for the nuclear sciences in universities in Espoo, Helsinki, and Lappeenranta, the availability of competent human resources has also been improved by the additional training of young experts in the nuclear safety field in different ways, e.g. through a networked doctoral programme (YTERA – Doctoral programme for Nuclear Engineering and Radiochemistry in 2012–2015) and through separately arranged national courses focusing on nuclear and waste management safety (YK and YJH Courses).
Due to the rearrangement of research funding instruments in Finland and additional budget cuts by the Government, STUK has partly terminated and also significantly reduced its radiation safety research. Instead of its own research programme, STUK has established a national radiation safety research programme in co-operation with all universities in Finland to ensure that radiation safety research will continue in Finland.
The spent nuclear fuel disposal project has progressed to the construction phase
The Finnish nuclear fuel cycle policy is based on the once-through principle. After removal from the reactor spent fuel is stored in interim pool type storages at the power plant sites. After a storage period lasting tens of years, the spent fuel will be disposed of deep in the Finnish bedrock.
Posiva submitted construction licence application and supporting safety documentation to the authorities at the end of 2012. STUK’s safety review and assessment was submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE) in February 2015. The construction licence was granted by the Government to Posiva in November 2015. The construction of the disposal facility started in December 2016. Posiva is responsible for the preparations for and later on for the implementation of the disposal of spent fuel of its owners TVO and FPH. The disposal project and the granted licence cover spent fuel from five reactors: Loviisa 1 and 2, in addition to Olkiluoto 1, 2 and 3.
In the Decision-in-Principle for Fennovoima’s new reactor unit, Fennovoima was required to define its plans for future spent nuclear fuel management and disposal by the end of June 2016. As required, in June 2016 Fennovoima submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment programme for its planned spent fuel disposal activities to the MEAE. Fennovoima and Posiva Solutions Oy (Posiva’s subsidiary that focuses on supplying services) have signed a co-operation agreement to ensure that the expertise of Posiva is available for Fennovoima’s spent nuclear fuel management activities. The co-operation started in 2016.
Spent fuel interim storage safety has been enhanced
The safety of the spent fuel storages was analysed as a part of the EU stress tests in relation to the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident. Hazards or deficiencies that would have required immediate action were not found, but areas where safety could be further enhanced were identified (e.g. reducing the dependency on nuclear power plant’s normal electricity supply and distribution systems as well as on the sea water cooled systems for residual heat removal of the reactor, containment and spent fuel storage pools, protection against external flooding, seismic resistance of spent fuel pools, and firefighting systems).
The spent fuel interim storage facility in Olkiluoto undergone numerous improvements during its capacity extension, which became operational in summer 2015. These included, e.g. protection against large airplane crashes and enabling a cooling water feed from outside the storage area. Based on the evaluation in relation to the Fukushima Daiichi accident, water level and temperature monitoring functions have been improved for earthquake resistance and for the potential loss of the facility power supply.
Additionally, the Loviisa spent fuel storage has been improved after the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The main changes are aimed at reducing the dependency on the plant’s normal electricity supply and distribution system, as well as on seawater cooled systems for residual heat removal from the reactor, containment and spent fuel pools. Furthermore, the flood protection of the NPP has been improved.
Operation in low and intermediate level waste management proceeded
The predisposal management of LILW was developed in Loviisa NPP during the reporting period as the solidification plant was authorized for full operation in 2016. Loviisa NPP has now been able to start the solidification of historical liquid wastes, which had been stored in tanks from the start of NPP’s operation in the late 1970s. The aim is to solidify and dispose of all existing liquid waste in the forthcoming years.
The disposal of non-nuclear radioactive waste has commenced
Non-nuclear radioactive wastes originating, e.g. from research, industry and hospitals has been stored in a cavern in the LILW disposal facility at Olkiluoto. The licence conditions of the Olkiluoto LILW disposal facility were revised in 2012. The revised license enabled the disposal of non-nuclear radioactive waste in the Olkiluoto LILW disposal facility. The disposal of non-nuclear radioactive waste started in 2016 and currently most waste accumulated over the years have been disposed of.
Planning for decommissioning Finland’s first nuclear reactor has started
The research reactor FiR 1 (TRIGA Mark II, 250 kW) has been in operation since 1962. The operation of FiR 1 has been carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. in Espoo since 1971. In 2012, VTT decided to shut down the research reactor due to insufficient funding for its continued operation. The Environmental Impact Assessment procedure for the decommissioning was conducted in 2013-2015. FiR 1 will be the first nuclear reactor to be decommissioned in Finland. VTT submitted an application to the Government for a decommissioning licence on June 20, 2017 (formally this is a new operating licence as the present Finnish legislation does not define a decommissioning licence). The dismantling is scheduled to start in early 2019 and to last about two years. The dismantling will be regulated by STUK concerning the radiation and nuclear safety aspects.
Challenges for future work in spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management
Finland has identified for itself challenges for the future work in spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management and these are summarized below. Progress in spent nuclear fuel disposal programme has been identified as a continuous challenge because the proceeding project requires the development of regulatory requirements. Moreover, regulatory oversight needs to be developed and adjusted for the different project phases. STUK has procedures in place to review and update plans and regulations as the disposal project proceeds to each new phase and the needs for development are identified. Furthermore, Posiva is well prepared for the construction phase of the disposal project and preparations are ongoing for the forthcoming operation phase.
In addition, the development of national competences and a regulatory framework are identified as a continuous challenge because the nuclear field in Finland is very active at the moment and compentent resources are required both for regulatory oversight as well as for licensees and license applicants.
Finland has identified following three main challenges for the future work:
• Improvement of the national plan for radioactive waste management
Finland has a well-functioning system and technical solutions for the management of nuclear waste arising from NPPs and also for major part of non-nuclear radioactive wastes. However, as a consequence of 1) an incident at a sealed radioactive source in the storage facilities in Suomen Nukliditekniikka and its related clean-up work (for more detail information see Section J, article 28), 2) planning of the research reactor decommissioning waste storage and disposal and 3) unresolved challenges of disposal for a few HASS sources, it has been identified that the national radioactive waste management plan and licensing system needs to be evaluated and improved to ensure a national system with capabilities for all possible waste streams. MEAE has invited an ad-hoc expert group to address these issues. The group will also address recommendations made by the Finnish Safety Investigation Authority about the sealed source incident. This group will start its work in autumn 2017.
• Developing competences and a regulatory framework for decommissioning
The research reactor, FiR 1, will be the first nuclear reactor to be decommissioned in Finland. As this is the first decommissioning project, Finland has limited experience in this area. VTT and STUK are both co-operating internationally gathering knowledge and experience about the implementation and regulation of decommissioning. The decommissioning project of the research reactor is also a very important learning process for STUK as the experiences gained will be used in updating regulations and YVL guides and also later on in planning the regulatory oversight for the decommissioning of NPPs.
• Communication to improve general public’s understanding of disposal safety
The Finnish public has a high degree of trust in the radiation and nuclear safety regulator, STUK, and there is a good degree of trust towards the safety of nuclear waste management and disposal. However, the interest of the general public towards disposal seems to be declining. Additionally, the latest poll results (conducted by e.g. Finnish Energy in 2016) show indications of a slight decrease in trust towards thesafety of nuclear waste disposal. Developments of these trends need to be followed in forthcoming polls. The regulatory work and decisions made by the regulator have to be clear and understandable to the general public. The general public should also have the correct understanding of disposal safety and related risks. Due to these challenges, STUK, for its part, initiated a strategic communication development project in spring 2016 to address both the changing communication environment and the use of modern communication tools.
Candidate for good practice
Finland has identified that the granting of the construction licence for a spent fuel disposal facility is a candidate for good practice. Finland is the first country that has granted a construction licence for a final repository for spent fuel. Construction of the facility is ongoing. The development and evaluation of safe disposal has been a long-lasting systematic process involving conducted in good co-operation with the Government, ministries, regulators, Posiva, nuclear power companies as well as research organisations while acknowledging the roles and responsibilities of the different parties. The approach taken in Finland has enabled timely progress of the disposal project with political and public support and resulted in approval of the construction licencelicence application in 2015. This is a concrete step towards improving safety in a unique and proven manner.
Conclusion
In conclusion, based on the information presented in the report, Finland complies with the obligations and objectives of the Joint Convention. Challenges for the future have been recognized, regularly reviewed and addressed. The required efforts for continuous improvement have been made.
Introduction
The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was adopted on 29 September 1997 at the Vienna Diplomatic Conference. Finland signed the Convention on 2 October 1997 and deposited the tools of acceptance on 10 February 2000. The Convention entered into force on 18 June 2001. This report is the 6th Finnish National Report under the Joint Convention in accordance with the provisions of Article 32. It will be subject to review in May 2018 in the sixth Review Meeting of the contracting parties in Vienna. The fulfilment of the obligations of the Convention and the development of waste management after the Fifth Review Meeting, during the reporting period 2014–2016, are assessed in this report.
There are currently two nuclear power plants operating in Finland: Loviisa and Olkiluoto plants. The Loviisa plant comprises two VVER-440 units (Russian type pressurised water reactors), operated by Fortum Power and Heat Oy (FPH). The Olkiluoto plant comprises two BWR units (boiling water reactors); operated by Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) and a third PWR (pressurized water reactor) unit is under construction. In addition, Fennovoima Oy (Fennovoima) has applied for a construction licence for one pressurised water reactor (AES-2006) at Pyhäjoki.
Spent fuel from the nuclear power plant units is stored in interim pool type storages at the power plant sites for tens of years until disposal. The interim spent fuel storages have already been in operation for about 30 years. The safety of the interim storages was enhanced during the reporting period. The spent nuclear fuel disposal project has progressed as planned. The construction licence for the encapsulation and disposal facility was granted by the Government to Posiva in November 2015 and the construction of the geological disposal facility started in Olkiluoto in December 2016. Fennovoima started the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of its own spent nuclear fuel disposal in summer 2016.
Geological disposal facilities for low and intermediate level waste have been in operation since the 1990s in Olkiluoto and Loviisa. In the future, the Olkiluoto facility is planned to be extended for operational waste from the OL3 unit and decommissioning waste from all reactor units in Olkiluoto. The disposal facility in Loviisa will be extended for decommissioning waste from the Loviisa NPP units. Fennovoima has planned to build a geological disposal facility for its low and intermediate level waste at the Pyhäjoki site.
Major developments in Finland since the 5th Review Meeting are as follows: there has been real progress in spent nuclear fuel disposal, as well as the enhancement of spent fuel interim storage safety, in addition improvements have been made in NPP’s LILW management and non-nuclear radioactive waste disposal, and there has been significant progress in the planning of the research reactor decommissioning. Furthermore, the legislative and regulatory framework has been enhanced, national competences for future needs have been evaluated and developed, and the IRRS follow-up mission (IAEA’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service) was carried out in Finland. Only the main achievements are presented in this summary section. More detailed information on the latest developments in the various topics of the Convention is provided in connection with the relevant articles. Section K summarises the main achievements from the reporting period and also presents Finland’s future challenges in nuclear and radioactive waste management.
Since the 5th Review Meeting
The 5th Review Meeting in 2015 identified challenges, and recorded some planned measures to improve the safety of nuclear waste management in Finland. On request of the Review Meeting these issues and the responsed are included in this 6th National Report of Finland. The issues are listed here, with the related references provided in brackets. A summary of how Finland has proceeded with the identified challenges during the reporting period is given in Section K.
Finland – Challenges
• Construction and oversight of the spent fuel (SF) disposal facility (Section H, Annexes L.2 and L.3)
• Decommissioning and waste management of the FiR 1 research reactor (Article 9, Article 26, Annex L.5)
• Ensuring adequate resources and competence in tough economic situations (utilities, waste management organizations, and Government) (Article 20, Article 22)
• Communication with public and stakeholders to maintain confidence in safe waste management and regulatory framework (Article 20)
• Disposal of a few High-Activity Sealed Sources (HASS), which are not suitable for disposal in existing LILW repositories (Section J).
Finland – Planned Measures to Improve Safety
• Licensing of the encapsulation plant and the disposal facility for encapsulated spent fuel (Section H, Annexes L.2 and L.3)
• Implementation of recommendations from the IRRS review (Article 20)
• Licensing of research reactor decommissioning and start of dismantling activities (Article 9, Article 26, Annex L.5).
The legislative and regulatory system has been enhanced
The current Finnish nuclear legislation is based on the Nuclear Energy Act from 1987, together with a supporting Nuclear Energy Decree from 1988. The Nuclear Energy Act has been revised several times over the years. The revision of the Nuclear Energy Act in 2015 enabled STUK to issue legally binding regulations. Based on the Nuclear Energy Act, STUK issued four regulations in 2016 to replace the earlier Government Decrees on nuclear safety for nuclear power plants, the security in the use of nuclear energy, the emergency response arrangements at nuclear power plants, and the disposal of nuclear waste. In addition, one new regulation for the safety of uranium and thorium production was issued.
Development of national competences for future needs
STUK’s role and responsibilities were assessed in a peer review, as part of the IRRS mission (IAEA’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service), in October 2012. In the followup mission in June 2015 the regulatory activities in Finland were reviewed based on the IAEA Safety Standards and international best practices. The main conclusion of the IRRS follow up mission was that STUK had made significant progress in most areas and many improvements had been implemented in accordance with the action plan.
The implementation of the recommendations from the “Nuclear Energy Research Strategy”-report from 2013 is on-going by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE). The main aim is to ensure the availability of the competent resources for the safe use of nuclear energy. As an example of the on-going implementation of the recommendations, the Nuclear Energy Act was updated in 2015 to ensure the financing of the enhancement of the nuclear safety research infrastructure.
In addition to the basic training given for the nuclear sciences in universities in Espoo, Helsinki, and Lappeenranta, the availability of competent human resources has also been improved by the additional training of young experts in the nuclear safety field in different ways, e.g. through a networked doctoral programme (YTERA – Doctoral programme for Nuclear Engineering and Radiochemistry in 2012–2015) and through separately arranged national courses focusing on nuclear and waste management safety (YK and YJH Courses).
Due to the rearrangement of research funding instruments in Finland and additional budget cuts by the Government, STUK has partly terminated and also significantly reduced its radiation safety research. Instead of its own research programme, STUK has established a national radiation safety research programme in co-operation with all universities in Finland to ensure that radiation safety research will continue in Finland.
The spent nuclear fuel disposal project has progressed to the construction phase
The Finnish nuclear fuel cycle policy is based on the once-through principle. After removal from the reactor spent fuel is stored in interim pool type storages at the power plant sites. After a storage period lasting tens of years, the spent fuel will be disposed of deep in the Finnish bedrock.
Posiva submitted construction licence application and supporting safety documentation to the authorities at the end of 2012. STUK’s safety review and assessment was submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE) in February 2015. The construction licence was granted by the Government to Posiva in November 2015. The construction of the disposal facility started in December 2016. Posiva is responsible for the preparations for and later on for the implementation of the disposal of spent fuel of its owners TVO and FPH. The disposal project and the granted licence cover spent fuel from five reactors: Loviisa 1 and 2, in addition to Olkiluoto 1, 2 and 3.
In the Decision-in-Principle for Fennovoima’s new reactor unit, Fennovoima was required to define its plans for future spent nuclear fuel management and disposal by the end of June 2016. As required, in June 2016 Fennovoima submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment programme for its planned spent fuel disposal activities to the MEAE. Fennovoima and Posiva Solutions Oy (Posiva’s subsidiary that focuses on supplying services) have signed a co-operation agreement to ensure that the expertise of Posiva is available for Fennovoima’s spent nuclear fuel management activities. The co-operation started in 2016.
Spent fuel interim storage safety has been enhanced
The safety of the spent fuel storages was analysed as a part of the EU stress tests in relation to the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident. Hazards or deficiencies that would have required immediate action were not found, but areas where safety could be further enhanced were identified (e.g. reducing the dependency on nuclear power plant’s normal electricity supply and distribution systems as well as on the sea water cooled systems for residual heat removal of the reactor, containment and spent fuel storage pools, protection against external flooding, seismic resistance of spent fuel pools, and firefighting systems).
The spent fuel interim storage facility in Olkiluoto undergone numerous improvements during its capacity extension, which became operational in summer 2015. These included, e.g. protection against large airplane crashes and enabling a cooling water feed from outside the storage area. Based on the evaluation in relation to the Fukushima Daiichi accident, water level and temperature monitoring functions have been improved for earthquake resistance and for the potential loss of the facility power supply.
Additionally, the Loviisa spent fuel storage has been improved after the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The main changes are aimed at reducing the dependency on the plant’s normal electricity supply and distribution system, as well as on seawater cooled systems for residual heat removal from the reactor, containment and spent fuel pools. Furthermore, the flood protection of the NPP has been improved.
Operation in low and intermediate level waste management proceeded
The predisposal management of LILW was developed in Loviisa NPP during the reporting period as the solidification plant was authorized for full operation in 2016. Loviisa NPP has now been able to start the solidification of historical liquid wastes, which had been stored in tanks from the start of NPP’s operation in the late 1970s. The aim is to solidify and dispose of all existing liquid waste in the forthcoming years.
The disposal of non-nuclear radioactive waste has commenced
Non-nuclear radioactive wastes originating, e.g. from research, industry and hospitals has been stored in a cavern in the LILW disposal facility at Olkiluoto. The licence conditions of the Olkiluoto LILW disposal facility were revised in 2012. The revised license enabled the disposal of non-nuclear radioactive waste in the Olkiluoto LILW disposal facility. The disposal of non-nuclear radioactive waste started in 2016 and currently most waste accumulated over the years have been disposed of.
Planning for decommissioning Finland’s first nuclear reactor has started
The research reactor FiR 1 (TRIGA Mark II, 250 kW) has been in operation since 1962. The operation of FiR 1 has been carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. in Espoo since 1971. In 2012, VTT decided to shut down the research reactor due to insufficient funding for its continued operation. The Environmental Impact Assessment procedure for the decommissioning was conducted in 2013-2015. FiR 1 will be the first nuclear reactor to be decommissioned in Finland. VTT submitted an application to the Government for a decommissioning licence on June 20, 2017 (formally this is a new operating licence as the present Finnish legislation does not define a decommissioning licence). The dismantling is scheduled to start in early 2019 and to last about two years. The dismantling will be regulated by STUK concerning the radiation and nuclear safety aspects.
Challenges for future work in spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management
Finland has identified for itself challenges for the future work in spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management and these are summarized below. Progress in spent nuclear fuel disposal programme has been identified as a continuous challenge because the proceeding project requires the development of regulatory requirements. Moreover, regulatory oversight needs to be developed and adjusted for the different project phases. STUK has procedures in place to review and update plans and regulations as the disposal project proceeds to each new phase and the needs for development are identified. Furthermore, Posiva is well prepared for the construction phase of the disposal project and preparations are ongoing for the forthcoming operation phase.
In addition, the development of national competences and a regulatory framework are identified as a continuous challenge because the nuclear field in Finland is very active at the moment and compentent resources are required both for regulatory oversight as well as for licensees and license applicants.
Finland has identified following three main challenges for the future work:
• Improvement of the national plan for radioactive waste management
Finland has a well-functioning system and technical solutions for the management of nuclear waste arising from NPPs and also for major part of non-nuclear radioactive wastes. However, as a consequence of 1) an incident at a sealed radioactive source in the storage facilities in Suomen Nukliditekniikka and its related clean-up work (for more detail information see Section J, article 28), 2) planning of the research reactor decommissioning waste storage and disposal and 3) unresolved challenges of disposal for a few HASS sources, it has been identified that the national radioactive waste management plan and licensing system needs to be evaluated and improved to ensure a national system with capabilities for all possible waste streams. MEAE has invited an ad-hoc expert group to address these issues. The group will also address recommendations made by the Finnish Safety Investigation Authority about the sealed source incident. This group will start its work in autumn 2017.
• Developing competences and a regulatory framework for decommissioning
The research reactor, FiR 1, will be the first nuclear reactor to be decommissioned in Finland. As this is the first decommissioning project, Finland has limited experience in this area. VTT and STUK are both co-operating internationally gathering knowledge and experience about the implementation and regulation of decommissioning. The decommissioning project of the research reactor is also a very important learning process for STUK as the experiences gained will be used in updating regulations and YVL guides and also later on in planning the regulatory oversight for the decommissioning of NPPs.
• Communication to improve general public’s understanding of disposal safety
The Finnish public has a high degree of trust in the radiation and nuclear safety regulator, STUK, and there is a good degree of trust towards the safety of nuclear waste management and disposal. However, the interest of the general public towards disposal seems to be declining. Additionally, the latest poll results (conducted by e.g. Finnish Energy in 2016) show indications of a slight decrease in trust towards thesafety of nuclear waste disposal. Developments of these trends need to be followed in forthcoming polls. The regulatory work and decisions made by the regulator have to be clear and understandable to the general public. The general public should also have the correct understanding of disposal safety and related risks. Due to these challenges, STUK, for its part, initiated a strategic communication development project in spring 2016 to address both the changing communication environment and the use of modern communication tools.
Candidate for good practice
Finland has identified that the granting of the construction licence for a spent fuel disposal facility is a candidate for good practice. Finland is the first country that has granted a construction licence for a final repository for spent fuel. Construction of the facility is ongoing. The development and evaluation of safe disposal has been a long-lasting systematic process involving conducted in good co-operation with the Government, ministries, regulators, Posiva, nuclear power companies as well as research organisations while acknowledging the roles and responsibilities of the different parties. The approach taken in Finland has enabled timely progress of the disposal project with political and public support and resulted in approval of the construction licencelicence application in 2015. This is a concrete step towards improving safety in a unique and proven manner.
Conclusion
In conclusion, based on the information presented in the report, Finland complies with the obligations and objectives of the Joint Convention. Challenges for the future have been recognized, regularly reviewed and addressed. The required efforts for continuous improvement have been made.
Kokoelmat
- STUKin omat sarjajulkaisut [2304]