Final Report of the National Cooperation Group on Nuclear Waste Management

In June 2017, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment appointed a working group to explore the objectives, development measures and alternative solutions for safe and cost-efficient nuclear waste management and other radioactive waste management from today well into the future. It is the working group’s opinion that it is important to ensure appropriate management of all existing and future radioactive waste regardless of its origin, producer or production method. Finland must have in place procedures that cover the processing, storage and disposal of all nuclear waste originating in Finland, as well as other radioactive waste. It is expedient to primarily use the existing infrastructure to implement waste processing and disposal. This will require cooperation and development of the nuclear facilities’ licence procedures. From the licence holder’s perspective, cooperation is feasible if it does not affect companies’ electricity production or the sociological acceptability of operations. However, making changes to the licences of nuclear facilities is slow and expensive, and it will complicate cooperation with other licence holders. If licence procedures are to be developed by legislative means, every effort should be made to ensure flexibility while upholding the important principles of the Nuclear Energy Act such as risk-conscious approach to safety, the correct level of decision-making, the opportunity of local municipalities to influence, and society’s participation. In the future, steps must be taken to develop cooperation in areas affected by the Nuclear Energy Act, Radiation Act and Waste Act. Waste exempted from supervision under the Nuclear Energy Act and Radiation Act is harmless with respect to its radiation properties, in which case it is supervised under the Waste Act. However, certain prejudices are still attached to such waste, which makes its appropriate management more complicated