Environmental impact assessment of the nuclear fuel final disposal facility planned by Posiva Oy to begin

Environmental impact assessment of the nuclear fuel final disposal facility planned by Posiva Oy to begin

 

Today, 13 May, Posiva Oy has provided the Ministry of Employment and the Economy (MEE) with the environmental impacts assessment programme for the extension of the final disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel, currently under construction in Olkiluoto, Eurajoki.

 

In accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, this programme presents a plan, prepared by the organisation responsible for the project, for the required analyses and implementation of the EIA procedure. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy will act as the contact authority for the EIA and will circulate the programme for comments until 25 July 2008.

 

The project examines a change involving an increase in the spent nuclear fuel to be finally disposed of, from 9,000 to 12,000 tonnes of uranium, and the related extension of the underground surface facility from some 190 to 240 hectares. The underground facility will be constructed in bedrock, at a depth of 400 to 700 metres. This extension would correspond to spent nuclear fuel generated during the estimated useful life of one more nuclear power plant unit.

 

The project with which the launched EIA procedure will be concerned depends on decisions to be taken on the construction of any potential new nuclear power plant units. The EIA procedure implemented in 1998–1999 covered the final disposal of the volume of tonnes of spent nuclear fuel generated by the four plant units functioning in Finland, the fifth nuclear power plant unit being built in Olkiluoto and any potential sixth plant unit to be constructed.

 

This extension is equivalent to preparation for final disposal related to any seventh unit built. The encapsulation and final disposal of spent nuclear fuel, from new plant units to the extended facility, would begin in the 2070s at the earliest.

 

The assessment programme can be viewed in local municipal offices and on the Internet

 

The assessment programme submitted to the ministry by Posiva Oy can be viewed during 27 May–25 July in the local government offices of Eurajoki, Eura, Kiukainen, Lappi, Luvia and Nakkila and in the environmental office in Rauma.

 

The programme, the subsequent comments and opinions and the contact authority's report will be available on the website of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy at: www.tem.fi

 

Opinions and comments on the EIA programme can be submitted in writing to the MEE by 25 July 2008, by post to: Ministry of Employment and the Economy, P.O. Box 32, FI-00023 Government, Finland; by e-mail to kuuleminen(at)tem.fi; or delivered in person to the MEE’s register office at Aleksanterinkatu 4, Helsinki.

 

The MEE and Posiva Oy will organise a public meeting to discuss the project on 9 July 2008 at 6 p.m. in the local government office hall of the municipality of Eurajoki. The meeting will provide members of the public with the opportunity to voice their opinions and obtain further information on the project and its environmental impacts.

 

The Ministry of the Environment will be responsible for the international hearing in accordance with the Espoo Convention

 

The Espoo Convention will be applied to the assessment of the project's cross-border environmental impacts. The parties to the Espoo Convention have the right to participate in the EIA procedure in Finland, if they so wish and if the adverse effects of the project have a potential impact on their regions.

 

In Finland, the Ministry of the Environment is responsible for practical arrangements with respect to concluding the international hearing. It will notify neighbouring countries’ environmental authorities of the launch of the EIA procedure and invite them to participate in it.

 

Assessment programme will be handled during the first stage of EIA

 

The EIA will be implemented in two stages. In due course, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy will submit an opinion, based on the comments and opinions presented in the assessment programme.

 

Posiva Oy will then draft an EIA report based on the EIA programme, the MEE's opinion and various analyses.

 

During the second hearing, the MEE will invite several ministries, authorities and communities to submit their opinions on the EIA report. The general public will also have the opportunity to participate in this hearing. On the basis of the EIA reports and subsequent comments, the MEE will prepare its final statement regarding the EIA. In accordance with the Nuclear Energy Act, the final EIA report will be annexed to the eventual application for the decision-in-principle.

 

For further information, please contact:

Jaana Avolahti, Senior Advisor, MEE, tel. +358 (0)10 606 4836

Jorma Aurela, Senior Engineer, MEE, tel. +358 (0) 50 592 2109

 

 

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