Miro Gorski's summer job focused on taking water samples around Olkiluoto

Miro has previously had summer jobs at TVO, in mechanical maintenance at the OL1 and OL2 plant units. Miro's summer job in Olkiluoto lasts about three months, from June until the end of August.

- I was aware of Posiva on some level as I had learned about the company in my earlier summer jobs at TVO. I have also read some especially memorable stories related to final disposal activities in the news and printed media. This summer job at Posiva is a perfect fit with the themes of my studies in energy and the environment. I am also entertaining ideas about a thesis, and would love to write it for Posiva. My hope is that the thesis topic would touch on measurements.

As a resident in Rauma, Olkiluoto has always been quite close to Miro

- I visited Olkiluoto for the very first time already as a comprehensive school pupil, and from those visits I remember the Visitor Centre and the operating waste repository, or VLJ cave. Our study programme at the University of Applied Sciences included an excursion to Olkiluoto. As an extra point of fun, I actually got the phone call about getting the summer job during the excursion to the island.

Miro works in Posiva's field research organisation with a desk in the Project Office, but sample taking are performed on the ONKALO construction site as well as at measurement points located all over the Olkiluoto island and in boreholes.

- The work is carried out in pairs. Our field team consists of six persons, with two extra trainees during the summer. We work together with e.g., Posiva's geologists and other Posiva personnel. Our job is to measure various water values, such as pH and conductivity. In other words, we monitor the groundwater continuously. The values we measure provide reference data on the baseline situation prior to the start of final disposal. The samples collected by us go to TVO's laboratory for analysis.

In Miro's opinion, the best part of the job has been the possibility to do practical work. He has enjoyed the tasks related to equipment development, in particular.

- Certain measurement points are checked every day for new values. That means we drive quite a lot round the Olkiluoto island, as there are several measurement points, a total of 58 boreholes. Work is also carried out in ONKALO, including leakage measurements, sampling, data collection, and so on. Me and my partner have also had the opportunity to engage in some small-scale equipment development in ONKALO's demonstration holes. The most memorable moment was when I saw for the first time an elk at close range on my morning round on the island. Last year we saw more animals; for example, we spotted a family of foxes right next to a borehole.

A special summer with a pandemic component

-A concrete example of the effect of the coronavirus in my job is that instead of taking the samples to TVO's laboratory ourselves, we leave them to a point to be picked up. Offices are empty and everything is quiet there. However, communication with co-workers has been easy by email and telephone. The best thing about Posiva are the nice people!

Miro does not yet have a clear picture of what his dream job will be in the future. His ongoing studies in energy and environmental subjects point to a certain direction, however.

- I enjoy fresh air and outdoor exercise, I would not want to spend all of my time sitting at a computer in my future work. My dream is a job that involves travel and it would be nice to have the opportunity to travel, as part of my work, to different parts of the world to see how things are done there. I made a quick visit to Australia prior to the start of my studies and it opened my eyes to all the things that are good here in Finland. That's why it is especially great to have a summer job at Posiva, the leading world pioneer in final disposal.

Text and photo, Helena Urpulahti