DEVELOPMENT OF SECURITY RELEVANT SAFEGUARDS CONCEPT FOR FINAL DISPOSAL OF SPENT FUEL IN FINLAND

Process of final disposal of spent fuel in Finnish bedrock was initiated by 1983. It consists of several stages with participation of the citizens, municipalities, operators and authorities. The basic governmental and parliamentary policy level decisions were made by May 2001. The final disposal site has been selected (Olkiluoto). A site-specific design of the Final Disposal Facility, including surface level Encapsulation Plant and underground Repository will be available by the end of 2003. The final disposal appeared to imply a new condition – after disposal no nuclear material accountancy re-verification is possible. For traditional safeguards mindset this condition appeared to be a real challenge. Additional challenges were faced when discussing the safeguards concept development for the encapsulation plant. On 11 September 2001 the security environment changed dramatically. Safeguards is required to contribute more directly to security - accountancy verification based confidence building is not enough. Nuclear material safeguards and security are seen as integral parts of more comprehensive security. In addition to addressing conventional requirements of the safeguards system, the concept development focused on issues of direct relevance to security and enhanced impact on confidence about compliance. This paper describes insights developed during the preparation of the preliminary safeguards concept. Times a rhetorical turn that had to be appreciated to be able to proceed with the discussion.