Construction and installation work is proceeding rapidly

The project, with a total value of some EUR 500 million, consists of Posiva building and furnishing all the facilities required for final disposal activities, excavating five final disposal tunnels and starting final disposal in one of them. Starting actual final disposal activities requires an operating licence for the facility from the government.

Central tunnel 5, which connects the final disposal tunnels and has a total length of 360 metres, has already been excavated. Only 40 metres remain to excavate in central tunnel 6, which has a length of approximately 240 metres.

The finishing and civil engineering work is also proceeding as planned in other respects.

- For example, at level -437, where we have technical rooms, parking garages, social facilities and shelter facilities, the view is already more reminiscent of an industrial facility than a cave excavated in bedrock, Kimmo Lehtola says.

The steel structure in the personnel shaft would be a skyscraper if placed above ground

The installation of steel structures in the personnel shaft, which started last September, was completed in early February. The steel structures form the shaft for the personnel lift and act as a supporting structure for the water and sewer pipes that run into ONKALO from the ground level as well as the electrical cables that will be installed next.

- The steel structure was completed slightly ahead of time. The installation of the personnel lift will begin late this year, and the lift will be functional in time for the joint functional test, says Juha Riihimäki.

The lift at ONKALO will be the personnel lift that runs the deepest underground in the world.

- The previous world record holder, the personnel lift in the Tytyri mine in Lohja, reaches 350 metres. Various mine lifts and conveyors run much deeper, of course, but the personnel lift at ONKALO is similar to the ones used in skyscrapers, for example, Kimmo Lehtola notes.

The steel frame for the personnel shaft rises 460.9 metres up from level -455. Above ground, the structure would be the tallest in the Nordic countries and also come close to Europe’s tallest building, the 462-metre Lakhta Centre in St Petersburg.

The installation of the canister lift that runs from the encapsulation plant to the canister reception station at level -444 will begin in August. Preparations are already being made for the lift installation at ONKALO by doing concreting work at the reception station and electrical installations in the canister shaft.

- The canister lift is a much more substantial device than the personnel lift, and it can lower the final disposal canister, weighing up to 30 tonnes, from the encapsulation plant to the reception station. However, as it is mining technology equipment, the lift does not require a steel frame like the personnel lift, Riihimäki specifies.

Work related to the EKA project is also proceeding above ground. The encapsulation plant is already three floors above ground, and next year, the installation work for equipment required for the encapsulation of spent nuclear fuel can begin at the plant.

- The firefighting water pump house, with two 360 cubic metre water tanks, has also been completed above ground, Kimmo Lehtola explains.

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