Billion-dollar nuclear waste site buried 1,400 feet underground nears launch

For decades, one of the main challenges facing nuclear energy has been how to safely and effectively store the radioactive waste produced by the process. 

In Finland, experts hope they have found a viable solution: burying the waste in bedrock over 1,000 feet underground. 

More than 20 years in the making and costing over $1 billion, the soon-to-be-operational Onkalo facility will be capable of storing 6,500 tons of radioactive nuclear waste, according to The Associated Press. 

Prior to storage, the spent nuclear fuel will be loaded into copper storage containers and transported deep underground. 

The facility is the first of its kind in the world, per the AP. 

While most experts agree that storing radioactive nuclear waste deep underground is preferable to keeping it on the Earth's surface, some remain skeptical about humankind's ability to safely dispose of such material. 

"My view of nuclear waste disposal is that there's no good option, but it's important to find the least bad option, and geologic disposal in general is going to be the least bad option among a range of, you know, bad options," said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, per the AP. 

According to Lyman, there is also uncertainty as to whether the copper containers holding the waste will remain intact long enough for the hazardous waste to become less radioactive. 

"The hope is that it is such a slow process that most of the radioactive material will have decayed away by then," Lyman explained. "But again, there are uncertainties."

In all, the world has produced roughly 400,000 tons of radioactive nuclear waste since the 1950s, according to the AP. Roughly 60 facilities the size of Finland's Onkalo site would be required to store it all. 

As countries around the globe search for new ways to meet the ever-growing demand for energy, nuclear power plants remain an important part of the equation. However, as Wyman noted, there are no perfect solutions to the problem of nuclear waste.

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