EIA in the 1990s
During the period 1997 to 1999, Posiva performed an environmental impact assessment procedure for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel.
EIA Programme
In 1997, Posiva started drafting an EIA programme for a repository for spent nuclear fuel. The municipalities included were the four potential sites for the repository identified in the site studies: Eurajoki, Kuhmo, Loviisa and Äänekoski.
The EIA programme was drafted with the aid of an extensive citizen involvement system and hearing procedure. During the autumn of 1997, Posiva organised several open discussion events in all candidate municipalities. Citizens’ wishes for new reports and studies were also collected in working groups in which a number of members from various associations and organisations in the municipalities participated. The EIA programme was finished early in 1998, and contained basic information on the repository, on the different options for its construction, on the required licences, etc.
The EIA programme was submitted to the coordinating authority, which, in this project, was the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The review of the EIA programme was accompanied by an extensive hearing procedure, after which, in June 1998, the Ministry of Trade and Industry issued its statement on the programme. The specifications submitted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry were added to the EIA programme, after which the assessment was performed according to the programme.
EIA Report
The EIA report was completed in May 1999 and contained an assessment of the feasibility of the different final disposal options as well as the plans on how to monitor the project and how to prevent any adverse impacts of the project.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry put the EIA report of the final disposal project on public display and requested statements on the report from several municipalities (Eurajoki, Loviisa, Kuhmo, Äänekoski, as well as their neighbouring municipalities), from the environmental authorities and from other involved parties.
The EIA procedure was completed when the Ministry of Trade and Industry provided its statement on the EIA report. In this statement, the Ministry declared the EIA report to be sufficiently extensive and detailed and deemed it fulfilled the requirements of the EIA Act and the EIA Decree.
