Finland's waste fund grows to €2.4 billion

Finnish nuclear operators had set aside a total of €2.38 billion ($2.67 billion) by the end of 2014 - up from €2.27 billion ($2.55 billion) by the end of 2013 and €2.16 billion ($2.42 billion) by the end of 2012 - for waste disposal and decommissioning activities, the country's Ministry for Employment and the Economy has reported.

In Finland, nuclear power companies bear the costs of nuclear waste management, and the funds for that purpose are collected into the State Nuclear Waste Management Fund. Each year, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy determines the share of each nuclear power company in the State Nuclear Waste Management Fund as well as the waste management fee to be paid to the fund. Each nuclear power company’s share of liabilities in the fund is decreased by the investments it has made in final disposal.

The ministry said the fund had generated a profit of just over €25.5 million ($28.7 million) by the end of last year, up from about €19 million ($21 million) in 2013, which was paid back into the fund.

The ministry said that the amount now in the fund is sufficient to cover the cost of managing the country's current nuclear waste stockpile, as well as the decommissioning of its existing nuclear power plants.

Utilities Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) pay into the fund to cover the costs of waste management from their Loviisa and Olkiluoto nuclear power plants. The charges are set annually by the government according to the assessed liabilities for each company, and also cover decommissioning.

The annual fee payable to the fund is determined on the basis of the amount of disposable nuclear waste accumulated less the effect of actions taken for nuclear waste management. The fee is also increased or decreased on the basis of how well the fund succeeds in its investments: if the interest income is higher than expected, the fee is correspondingly reduced. The objective is to accumulate enough assets in the fund so that it allows for the final disposal of accumulated nuclear fuel to be carried out.
The ministry said nuclear power companies must pay about €91 million for new nuclear waste management fees by the end of March.

The fund for nuclear safety amassed almost €5.7 million ($6.4 million) and that for nuclear waste research about €1.9 million ($2.1 million).

Finland's nuclear waste management program was initiated in 1983, soon after the country's four existing reactors started commercial operation. The 1987 Nuclear Energy Act included final disposal as an option, and set up the nuclear waste management fund under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. A 1994 amendment of the Act stipulates that wastes should be handled wholly in the country. Reactor decommissioning is the responsibility of the two power companies separately, and plans are updated every five years. Responsibility for nuclear wastes remains with the power companies until final disposal.

Posiva - a waste management specialist jointly owned by Finnish nuclear utilities Fortum and TVO – submitted an application to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in December 2012 for the construction of a final repository and waste encapsulation plant at Olkiluoto, with the aim of permanently storing the used nuclear fuel from its owners' nuclear power plants.

Earlier this month, Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority (STUK) gave its backing to Posiva's application to construct the facility.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News