Inside the world’s first nuclear waste tomb in Finland

Published

2 years ago

October 17, 2022

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The world’s first geological tomb for nuclear waste is rapidly taking shape more than 400 metres below the forests of Finland.

Batches of lethally radioactive uranium will start arriving within two years for burial in the warren of tunnels carved into the bedrock.

Other countries, including the UK, are considering plans to build their own geological disposal facilities, which should safely isolate the 260,000 tonnes of highly radioactive waste that has accumulated worldwide since the dawn of nuclear power in the 1950s.

Sky News was given rare access to the site, called Onkalo, which means “cavity” in Finnish. It is built next to three nuclear reactors on the country’s southwestern coast.

Security was so tight in the aftermath of the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline that there was a strict no-filming rule above ground.

But we were taken down the 5km access road that winds through the bedrock, so deep that our ears popped.

At the bottom, further tunnels fanned out. So far five have been completed, but up to 100 could be built over the coming decades, stretching to more than 40 miles in all.

Our guide was Sanna Mustonen, a geologist and senior project manager for Posiva, the company that runs the facility.

She said the bedrock was formed almost two billion years ago and has remained intact ever since.

“The rock itself, like in the whole area of Finland, is very stable,” she said.

“We have old rock. We don’t have continental plates nearby, so we don’t have any earthquakes, seismicity, or things like that.”

‘There must be security’

Like other countries Finland stores spent nuclear fuel above ground in shielded bunkers while it seeks a long-term solution.

But Mika Pohjonen, managing director of Posiva, said it would be irresponsible to leave such dangerous waste where it could fall into the wrong hands.

He told Sky News: “If you look at history, 300 years back, how many wars have there been in Europe, for example?

“On the surface the interim storage needs active measures from humans, the building needs to be heated, the spent fuel must be cooled, there must be security around it.

“If you look a generation forward you cannot really see that that kind of arrangement would be risk-free enough.”

Various solutions to the nuclear industry’s waste problem have been suggested, including: launching it into deep space, burying it in an ocean trench and dropping it into a fissure in the Earth’s crust.

They’ve been dismissed as unfeasible, expensive or environmentally risky.

‘Safe for one million years’

Instead, Posiva will encase spent nuclear fuel in double-layered metal cannisters that will slot into holes bored in the floor of the tunnels.

To keep them dry, they will be swaddled in bentonite, an absorbent material used in cat litter.

More bentonite will be used to backfill the tunnels, which will be plugged with concrete.

When the complex is full in around a century’s time, with perhaps as many as 3,250 cannisters, it will be sealed up and all trace removed above ground.

“It will be safe for one million years,” Mr Pohjonen said.

“There may not be humans here any more because in that time there will be ice ages or [this area will be] underwater but this is designed to keep it out of the biosphere.”

Dummy cannisters are already buried in bentonite and surrounded by sensors.

Some scientists have warned water could corrode the metal, become radioactive and then rise to the surface over millennia.

But Posiva says the multiple barriers keep the waste in and water out. And if there was a leak in a highly unlikely worst-case scenario, modelling shows that by the time any water reached the surface in 10,000 years the radioactivity would have decayed so much that it would not be a threat to life.

Finland’s progress has been watched closely by other countries. Sweden has begun construction of its own deep geological disposal site. France, Switzerland and the UK are further behind.

A shortlist of four possible sites in Cumbria and Lincolnshire has been drawn up.

Bruce Cairns, chief policy adviser at the UK’s Nuclear Waste Services, was also taking a look at Onkalo while we were there.

He said responsible permanent disposal for waste is essential as the country commissions a new generation of reactors.

“We have 70 years’ worth of waste in the UK that’s already accumulated from energy production, defence and industrial processes.

“It’s not going anywhere unless we do something with it. We have to take action to make sure this is managed responsibly, not just for now but for the long term as well.”

Key to Finland’s progress has been engagement with the local community.

Locals in favour

The nearest settlement is Eurajoki, about 10 miles away.

The existing nuclear reactors were already big local employers and when the area was selected from a shortlist of disposal sites the local authority voted overwhelmingly in favour.

Vesa Lakaniemi, the town’s mayor, said: “We have had nuclear power here for 40 years.

“People know about nuclear and final [waste] disposal much more than in the areas which don’t have a nuclear power plant.

“Trust has developed over four decades.”

World

Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners

Published

7 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to 'smoke out' thousands of illegal miners

A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.

The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.

Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.

It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.

The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.

Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.

A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.

It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.

“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.

Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.

In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.

Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.

Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.

The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.

Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.

Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.

World

Ukrainian frontline commander warns: ‘The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem’

Published

10 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Ukrainian frontline commander warns: 'The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem'

In the courtyard of a farmhouse now home to soldiers of the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanised brigade, I’m introduced to a weary-looking unit by their commander Captain Oleksandr “Sasha” Shyrshyn.

We are about 10km from the border with Russia, and beyond it lies the Kursk region Ukraine invaded in the summer – and where this battalion is now fighting.

The 47th is a crack fighting assault unit.

They’ve been brought to this area from the fierce battles in the country’s eastern Donbas region to bolster Ukrainian forces already here.

War latest: Russia ready to carry out ‘massive attack’

Captain Shyrshyn explains that among the many shortages the military has to deal with, the lack of infantry is becoming a critical problem.

Sasha is just 30 years old, but he is worldly-wise. He used to run an organisation helping children in the country’s east before donning his uniform and going to war.

He is famous in Ukraine and is regarded as one of the country’s top field commanders, who isn’t afraid to express his views on the war and how it’s being waged.

His nom de guerre is ‘Genius’, a nickname given to him by his men.

‘Don’t worry, it’s not a minefield’

Sasha invited me to see one of the American Bradley fighting vehicles his unit uses.

We walk down a muddy lane before he says it’s best to go cross-country.

“We can go that way, don’t worry it’s not a minefield,” he jokes.

He leads us across a muddy field and into a forest where the vehicle is hidden from Russian surveillance drones that try to hunt both American vehicles and commanders.

Sasha shows me a picture of the house they had been staying in only days before – it was now completely destroyed after a missile strike.

Fortunately, neither he, nor any of his men, were there at the time.

“They target commanders,” he says with a smirk.

‘The world is scared of Russia’

It takes me a moment or two to realise we are only a few steps away from the Bradley, dug in and well hidden beneath the trees.

Sasha tells me the Bradley is the finest vehicle he has ever used.

A vehicle so good, he says, it’s keeping the Ukrainian army going in the face of Russia’s overwhelming numbers of soldiers.

He explains: “Almost all our work on the battlefield is cooperation infantry with the Bradley. So we use it for evacuations, for moving people from one place to another, as well as for fire-covering.

“This vehicle is very safe and has very good characteristics.”

Billions of dollars in military aid has been given to Ukraine by the United States, and this vehicle is one of the most valuable assets the US has provided.

Ukraine is running low on men to fight, and the weaponry it has is not enough, especially if it can’t fire long-range missiles into Russia itself – which it is currently not allowed to do.

If President-elect Donald Trump cuts the supply of military aid, the Ukrainians will lose – it’s that simple.

Sasha says: “We have a lack of weapons, we have a lack of artillery, we have a lack of infantry, and as the world doesn’t care about justice, and they don’t want to finish the war by our win, they are afraid of Russia.

“I’m sorry but they’re scared, they’re scared, and it’s not the right way.”

Like pretty much everyone in Ukraine, Sasha is waiting to see what the US election result will mean for his country.

He is sceptical about a deal with Russia.

“Our enemy only understands the language of power. And you cannot finish the war in 24 hours, or during the year without hard decisions, without a fight, so it’s impossible. It’s just talking without results,” he tells me.

‘Losing will be not only our problem’

These men expect the fierce battles inside Kursk to intensify in the coming days.

Indeed, alongside the main supply route into Kursk, workers are already building new defensive positions – unfurling miles of razor wire and digging bunkers for the Ukrainian army if it finds itself in retreat.

Sasha and his men are realistic about support fatigue from the outside world but will keep fighting to the last if they have to.

“I understand this is only our problem, it’s only our issue, and we have to fight this battle, like we have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility,” Sasha said.

But he points out everyone should realise just how critical this moment in time is.

“If we look at it widely, we have to understand that us losing will be not only our problem, but it will be for all the world.”

Stuart Ramsay reports from northeastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Azad Safarov, and Nick Davenport.

World

Spain flooding: New weather warnings issued – as country counts flooding cost

Published

10 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Spain flooding: New weather warnings issued - as country counts flooding cost

A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.

The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain – the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar.

Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.

The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.

Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday – Spain’s highest of the day – most of which fell in six hours.

All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption.

Emergency services in the province have moved 3,000 people from homes at risk of flooding close to the Guadalhorce River in the west of the city.

Jamie Marchant, 29, from Caerphilly in South Wales travelled to Malaga last Wednesday.

He told Sky News that “debris” had been left behind by the recent rainfall in the region.

“Everyone is pitching in to clean up and some shops are opening as usual,” he added.

Orange warnings for the Valencia region in eastern Spain expired earlier on Thursday.

The adverse weather could lead to total insured losses of more than €4bn (£3.33bn), according to credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS.

Much of the claims are expected to be covered by the Spanish government’s insurance pool, the agency said, but insurance premiums are likely to increase.