Finland Might Have Solved Nuclear Power’s Biggest Problem

it's an immense project since 2005 finland's been constructing the largest nuclear reactor in europe alongside a facility that could solve the problem of what to do with spent nuclear fuel when you think nuclear the nordic nation doesn't immediately jump to mind but if all of its planned projects come to fruition then by the end of the decade the country will be second only to france in terms of the percentage of energy drawn from nuclear systems after more than a decade of delays and cost overruns 2022 will see the world's happiest country switch on one of the planet's most advanced reactors potentially kickstarting a new age of nuclear power [Applause] finland actually has a long history with nuclear power its first reactor came online in 1977 and by 1980 three more were operational providing a third of finland's total energy needs while these reactors are among the most efficient in the world running at a 95 capacity factor for the past decade and continually being uprated over their life cycle growing demand and the seasonal fluctuations of other renewable sources like hydro and solar has left the country relying on imports from russia and sweden to make up the balance of its energy needs to lessen its reliance on foreign energy and help meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035 the finnish government approved the construction of what was meant to be the world's first third generation pressurized water reactor or erp at its aukiloto nuclear plant known as ol3 in 2005. with an initial cost of 3.9 billion us dollars ol3 was to nearly double the plant's existing output and provide 14 percent of finland's energy needs when it became operational by 2010 but while ol3 was the first epr to begin construction ahead of other next generation reactors in france china and the uk complexities surrounding the design defects in safety systems and contractual disputes led to over a decade of delays and in 2018 china's taishan 1 became the first epr reactor in the world to start operating despite these delays and the cost swelling to over 10.2 billion us dollars ol3 was granted an operation licensed by finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority in 2019 and in march 2021 116 tons of uranium began to be loaded into the reactor ahead of its final testing phase once it's connected to the grid and the reactor begins commercial production in early 2022 the countdown will be on until ol3 begins adding to finland's spent fuel stockpile nuclear power is an incredibly clean way to produce energy but it does create a byproduct and it's the one problem we've yet to truly solve after three to six years irradiated material is no longer able to sustain a reaction as a viable fuel source and new material must be brought in to maintain the reactor's efficiency but while it's unable to generate electricity spent fuel remains highly radioactive and needs to be isolated for hundreds of thousands of years to prevent it causing harm to people or the surrounding environment although spent fuel can be re-enriched and re-enter the fuel cycle the main way we currently deal with radioactive waste is to simply store it in pools or sealed dry storage facilities while it slowly decays [Music] while these methods keep spent fuel contained it's not a viable long-term solution as the system is heavily reliant on mechanical and human intervention and even under the strictest conditions it can be vulnerable to attacks of terrorism or natural disasters the kind that led to the events of fukushima in 2011. with an estimated 250 000 tons of high-level waste already in storage around the world and with no long-term strategy of dealing with it many countries have chosen to completely rule out nuclear power when it comes to meeting their growing energy needs in an attempt to solve this since 2005 plus a joint venture between finland's two nuclear power providers has been constructing the world's first deep geological repository for spent fuel in the billion year old bedrock not far from ol3 [Music] funded by charges collected from consumers through electricity sales the 1 billion us dollar project that's due to complete in 2023 will see a series of tunnels extend half a kilometer below ground creating a permanent disposal facility for spent fuel now while burying nuclear waste might sound alarming and may cause concern to environmental groups the process at on kelo is so much more than simply burying the problem based on a swedish disposal method known as kbs3 irradiated material is placed into boron steel canisters and enclosed within corrosion resistant copper capsules before being buried in individual holes and backfilled with bentonite clay entombing it forever once buried no further mechanical or human intervention is required to contain the radioactive payload essentially eliminating one of the biggest barriers many countries have when it comes to adopting nuclear power with the capacity to accommodate the last 50 years worth of finland's accumulated spent fuel and the needs of its existing reactors until at least 2120 at which time the facility will be permanently sealed unkailo appears to provide a viable long-term solution to dealing with nuclear waste described as a game changer for the industry by the director of the international atomic energy agency the lessons learned at once are being shared with other countries and regions with suitable geological characteristics are being considered for similar disposal sites having seemingly solved the biggest drawback of nuclear power and with the sixth reactor already planned to begin construction next year finland looks set to play a leading role in the widespread adoption of nuclear technology as the world continues to transition away from fossil fuels [Music] this video was powered by bluebeam you can learn more about that at the link below and as always if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction make 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Channel: The B1M

Views: 3,609,378

Rating: 4.8254833 out of 5

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, finland, ol3, nuke, nuclear power, radiation, nuclear, reactor, power plant, green energy, sustainable, clean energy, nuclear fuel, nuclear waste, Olkiluoto, Taishan, Hinkley Point C, Fukushima, Onkalo, deep geological repository, Atomic

Id: kYpiK3W-g_0

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 09 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Sylphidby]

Rl;dr. They're just dig reliable storages for nuclear waste in geologically stable areas.

[u/Sir_Osis_of_Liver]

Used fuel storage isn't close to the main problem with nuclear right now, it's economics.

Olkiluoto-3 started construction in 2005 and was supposed to be commissioned in 2009. It will finally be fully commissioned next year, 13 years behind schedule. The initial cost of €3B is somewhere north of €10B, but the utility and Areva have been going back and forth, so it's a bit muddy.

The EPR is a Gen 3+ reactor. It's semi-modular, and less complicated than previous generation reactors, at least in theory. The reality is that current Gen III reactors have been plagued with cost over runs just as previous versions have been.

[u/Primary-Nebula]

As a Finn, I was surprised to see a Ted-Ed about this. "Onkalo" is just a tunnel in a stable location. Bare minimum for storage, we LITERALLY just bury the waste in the ground.

What is so special about this? How can you even handle it "worse"? I'm honestly just curious, only way to do less would be dumping untreated nuclear waste into the nature. I'd be grateful to hear how nuclear waste is disposed in other countries.

[u/wubbbalubbadubdub]

The biggest problem with nuclear power isn't waste that's number 3...

Problem #1 is the massive upfront costs of nuclear power plants.

Problem#2 is the fearmongering of certain groups which has turned too many of the voting public against nuclear.

If problem #2 didn't exist then we'd have an enormous nuclear waste site in abandoned west Australian mines which are hundreds of kilometres from any town or city.

[u/pushinat]

"Solved" is really not the case here.

It will last some time until this tunnel is full, but it will be eventually.

This is not a solution, such that now any country can say: "That will be our solution as well, forevveeeeeeeeeeer"

Also, resources for Nuclear Energy have to be mined, this also means it won't be available forever and gets more expensive over time.

If you "solve" a problem, you should really solve it, not hand it over to future generations. It just have bought the human kind more time to figure out, how to fully transfer onto renewable energies.

[u/sssawfish]

I have been in the energy industry my whole life and contrary to what you might have heard nuclear is the cleanest, easiest way to combat climate change. Even with wind we are spending huge sums of money and running out of landfill for the blades. Solar requires strip mining the planet for the various materials needed. Nuclear gets a bad rap.

[u/Peter_deT]

Nuclear's biggest problem is that it costs more than renewables. Far more. The few remaining plants under construction are way over time and budget, and very few new ones are planned. It's an obsolescent technology.

[u/adrianw]

Just a reminder. Used fuel(aka nuclear waste) is a non problem. In the last 60 years the number of people who have been harmed from used fuel is zero. Zero people worldwide.

[u/KryssCom]

Nuclear's biggest problem is that it's orders of magnitude more expensive than solar and wind.