Inside the world’s first nuclear waste tomb in Finland
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.”
The waste will be sealed in double-layered metal cannisters
‘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.
The facility is being built into the bedrock of Finland
‘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.
The metal cannisters will be entombed underground
Read more:
New nuclear power station granted development consent by the government
Inside the most hazardous building in western Europe as work to remove radioactive sludge begins
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.
Olkiluoto nuclear power station
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.”
Thousands of troops are taking part in a joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus, as tensions with the EU run high following a Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier this week.
The Zapad joint military exercise which began on Friday will involve drills in both Russia and Belarus as well as in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Belarusian defence officials initially said about 13,000 troops would participate in the drill, but in May, its defence ministry said that would be cut nearly in half.
It comes just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down Russian drones over its airspace.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday morning hit back at a suggestion by US President Donald Trump on Thursday that the incursion may have been a “mistake”.
He said in a post on X: “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.”
Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of the incursions and that it had not intended to hit any targets in Poland.
Friday also saw Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper travelling to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on the same day the UK announced fresh sanctions against Moscow.
Prince Harry was also in Kyiv for a surprise visit to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Prince Harry arrives in Kyiv
Ms Cooper, who was appointed foreign secretary last week, posted about her visit on X saying: “The UK’s support for Ukraine is steadfast. I am pleased to be in Kyiv on my first visit as Foreign Secretary.”
The UK’s new sanctions include bans on 70 vessels that Britain says are part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that transports Russian oil in defiance of sanctions already in place.
Yvette Cooper with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Pic: Valentyn Ogirenko/PA
Some 30 individuals and companies – including Chinese and Turkey-based firms – have also been sanctioned for their part in supplying Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.
Read more from Sky News:
Maps and videos show seconds before Charlie Kirk was shot
Ireland will not participate in Eurovision if Israel takes part
Meanwhile on the frontline, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s oil-loading Primorsk port overnight, an SBU official said.
The attack caused fires and suspended oil-loading operations, the official added.
Russian defence systems also intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a spokesperson for the royal has said.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the city at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.
The Duke of Sussex travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Pic: Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will also be travelling to Kyiv on Friday in what will be her first foreign trip since being appointed to the job last week.
Her visit coincides with the UK launching a new package of Russia-related sanctions targeting ships carrying Russian oil as well as companies and individuals supplying electronics, chemicals and explosives used to make Russian weapons.
It comes as Russia and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on on NATO’s doorstep on Friday, just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Drones shot down in Poland
The Zapad-2025 exercise – a show of force by Russia and its close ally – will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Meanwhile on the frontline, Russian defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight,
including nine over the Moscow region, the ministry said on Friday.
The duke told the Guardian while on an overnight train to Kyiv: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.
“We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through.
“We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
Read more from Sky News:
Brazil’s ex-president jailed for 27 years
Migrant hotel critics meet asylum seekers
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, previously travelled to Ukraine in April, when he visited war victims as part of his work with wounded veterans.
The prince visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
Earlier this week, Harry said the King is “great” after he reunited with him at Clarence House for a private tea.
It was their first meeting in 19 months and lasted just 54 minutes.
The last time the father and son saw each other was in February 2024 when the prince flew to the UK after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis.
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020.
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting a coup to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat.
The far-right politician, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is currently under house arrest in the capital, Brasilia.
A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence several hours after they found the 70-year-old guilty on five counts.
The counts were trying to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempting violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, being implicated in violence, and posing a serious threat to the state’s assets and listed heritage.
Bolsonaro‘s lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.
Pic: AP
The ruling will deepen political divisions in Brazil and is also likely to prompt a backlash from the United States government – with Donald Trump already sharing his thoughts on the vote.
President Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, has said he was surprised and “very unhappy” with the decision.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said he always found Bolsonaro “outstanding” and said the conviction is “very bad for Brazil”.
Mr Trump previously called the case a “witch hunt”, slapped Brazil with tariff hikes, and revoked US visas for most members of Brazil’s high court.
Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
He has not attended the court proceedings, and on Thursday, he was seen at the garage of his property, but did not talk to the media.
Read more from Sky News:
What we know about how Charlie Kirk was killed
Read Mandelson’s letter to US embassy staff after being sacked
Justice Carmen Lucia. Pic: AP
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been overseeing the case, said on Tuesday that Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organisation, and voted in favour of convicting him. Justices Flavio Dino, Carmen Lucia, and Cristiano Zanin sided with Justice Moraes in the trial.
On Wednesday, another justice, Luiz Fux, disagreed and voted to acquit the ex-president of all charges.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Justice Lucia said she was convinced by the evidence the attorney general’s office put forward against Bolsonaro, saying: “He is the instigator, the leader of an organisation that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power.”
Bolsonaro had been previously banned from running for office until 2030 in a different case.
He is expected to choose an heir who is likely to challenge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next year.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024