On August 4, 2026, STUK, Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, delivered a favourable safety judgement on the deep geological repository at Onkalo. That puts Finland on track to be the first nation anywhere to bring a deep geological repository for high-level waste into operation, with Posiva running the project.
Posiva's president and chief executive, Ilkka Poikolainen, called the ruling a major and encouraging step in the licensing procedure, while STUK's director general, Petteri Tiippana, described it as an important advance for handling spent fuel assemblies.
As in Switzerland, the Finnish design rests on a multi-barrier system. Sealed canisters wrapped in bentonite backfill are to be placed several hundred metres down inside suitable host rock. Switzerland has picked the Opalinus Clay as its host rock, whereas Finland will deposit its waste in crystalline rock. Nagra, the Swiss agency, says the Finnish experience offers lessons for other nations running deep geological disposal programmes.
The positive safety ruling moves the world's first deep geological repository for high-level waste closer to operation and offers a reference point for other disposal programmes.
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