DEVELOPING SAFEGUARDS REQUIREMENTS AND MEASURES FOR GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL

In Finland, the Government issued the license to construct the disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel in November 2015. Consequently, the licensed construction of the disposal facility for spent nuclear in Finland begun in fall 2016 as the foundation works for the encapsulation plant and the excavations of the access tunnels to the canister shaft and canister storages in the geological repository were launched according to updated and approved plans. The emplacement of spent nuclear fuel in the geological repository is scheduled to start after the construction period and system tests in the new facility. The operational license application is scheduled to be submitted in early 2020’s. To ascertain that necessary technical safeguards tools are available at that time, STUK, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland has set up a national R&D project GOSSER (Geological Disposal Safeguards and Security R&D). GOSSER’s main objective is the finalization of the national Finnish concept for safeguarding the final disposal of the spent nuclear fuel. This concept and related R&D efforts are coordinated with the Finnish facilities, European Commission and the IAEA. Activities in GOSSER include so far: 1) Participation in R&D of robust, reliable, and accurate methods to verify spent nuclear fuel prior to final disposal. The work is carried out in cooperation with Helsinki Institute of Physics, the IAEA and other international partners. 2) Participation in the Safeguards-by-Design process of the Finnish encapsulation plant and final repository and, when necessary, development of safeguards methodologies for attaining knowledge of the verified nuclear material and to maintain it for future generations. 3) Participation in the ASTOR (Application Of Safeguards TO Repositories) group that supports the IAEA to develop safeguards gives valuable feedback and international considerations to the national R&D work. The national regulations for the nuclear safety, security and safeguards were renewed in 2015, and in addition to those, a new regulation focusing on the safety of the disposal is under preparation.