Rock man in Olkiluoto already for his third summer – and naturally working in his own field
Joona Suhonen has never thought rocks are grey and boring. Suhonen, who studies geosciences, aka geology, found rocks very interesting already as a little boy. Naturally, he had his own collection of rocks and stones as well as related magazines. This is already his third summer in Olkiluoto. And there has been no shortage of rocks in his work.
Suhonen who is a fifth-year student at Helsinki University, points out that for a geologist, Eurajoki is not a very far-away location for a summer job. Many of his fellow students have to travel much longer distances as the Finnish mining industry – a very potential sector offering summer jobs for geology students – is located quite far from the Helsinki region.
Quite a pile
It is a good thing that Suhonen finds rocks interesting, as there has certainly not been any shortage of them in his summer job. This summer, his main job has been to produce research data for use in the assessment of the suitability of Posiva’s future final disposal tunnels. Each of them will undergo extensive scrutiny years before actual mining, let alone final disposal or even excavations are started.
Even if the work carried out by Suhonen now is just a little part of the whole, there has still been plenty to do.
– I have gone through some 500 metres worth of samples and expect to reach somewhere between 700 and 900 metres by the end of the summer, he says.
Meaningful work
The work carried out by Joona will assist in and support later research phases. In addition to conducting precise measurements on the drilled samples, he also lists the types of rock they contain. This is important as safe disposal is only possible in rock scientifically proven to be suitable in all respects.
– I examine the samples obtained by drilling and the measurements I carry out serve as underlying data for later, more precise modelling of the locations in question. The final conclusions will be drawn by geologists with more experience than a summer trainee, he points out.
Despite saying this, the level of requirements that apply to his own work has increased year by year well above that of an assistant.
-I do not consider myself an expert yet, but I must say that every year I have been able to dig deeper into the bedrock of Olkiluoto, Suhonen says.
He certainly already masters the correct lingo of the field. He has had the need for a geologist-Finnish dictionary on several occasions. For a researcher, this has been just the right work place.
– I have had the opportunity to really engage in actual research work, which really intrigues me. At the same time, I feel that the work carried out here has been and is extremely thorough to ensure that final disposal can be implemented safely, which is significant also from the society’s point of view.
Great memories
All in all, Suhonen has a very good impression of Olkiluoto, although he admits freely that his own work has kept him quite exclusively in the Posiva bubble. His knowledge of TVO is mainly based on eating every day in the shared canteen at the Central Office. Otherwise, most of his summer has been spent in Posiva’s research hall together with other employees of Posiva.
Suhonen’s summer colleagues have been students in the same field.
– We have spent the whole summer in the same research hall. We are a total of four geology students, one of whom I had met already before in Helsinki, he says.
Rauma, which Suhonen has become quite familiar with, receives praise as a summer town.
– I have liked living in Rauma. The Old Town, in particular, is quite entertaining, he concludes.
Suhonen’s studies are approaching completion. According to plans, he will obtain his degree before Christmas. He really only has his Master’s thesis to write and has already made a good start on it. He is writing the thesis for the Finnish Museum of Natural History.
Text: Ville Kulmala
Pictures: Tapani Karjanlahti