Government Decree on the safety of disposal of nuclear waste (No. 736 of 2008)

Section 1 the activity concentration of which after 500 years Scope of application is above the level of 100 megabecquerels (MBq) per kilogram in a disposed waste package, or This Decree shall apply to the disposal of spent above an average value of 10 MBq per kilogram nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste, originating of waste in one emplacement room; in a nuclear facility, into a facility to be 6) annual dose shall refer to the sum of the constructed in bedrock. effective dose arising from external radiation The decree shall also apply to radioactive waste as within the period of one year, and of the referred to in section 10 of the Radiation Act committed effective dose from the intake of (592/1991), if such waste is sited in a disposal radioactive substances within the same period of facility for nuclear waste, as referred to in time; subsection 1. 7) long-term safety shall refer to the safety of Provisions on the handling and storage of spent disposal after the operational period of the nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste in a nuclear disposal facility, taking account of radiological facility attached to a nuclear power plant are laid impacts on man and the environment; down in the Government Decree on the Safety of 8) safety case shall refer to documentation for Nuclear Power Plants (733/2008). demonstrating compliance with the long-term safety requirements ;

Section 2 9) safety functions shall refer to factors preventing Definitions and limiting the releases and migration of disposed radioactive materials; For the purposes of this Decree: 10) barrier shall refer to an engineered or natural 1) nuclear waste facility shall refer to a nuclear structure or material used for achieving safety facility used for the encapsulation of spent nuclear functions; fuel or conditioning of other nuclear waste for 11) assumed operational occurrence shall refer to disposal, and to a disposal facility for spent such incident influencing the safety of a nuclear nuclear fuel or other nuclear waste; waste facility that can be expected to occur at 2) disposal facility shall refer to an entirety least once during any period of a hundred comprising the rooms for disposal of the waste operating years; packages (emplacement rooms) and the adjoining 12) postulated accident shall refer to such incident underground and above-ground auxiliary influencing the safety of a nuclear waste facility facilities. that can be assumed to occur more rarely than 3) disposal site shall refer to the location of the once during any period of a hundred operating disposal facility and, after disposal has been years; postulated accidents are grouped further completed, the area entered in the real estate into two classes on the basis of their frequency: register in accordance with Section 85 of the a) class 1 postulated accidents, which can be Nuclear Energy Decree (161/1988), and the assumed to occur at least once during any period underlying ground and bedrock. of a thousand operating years; 4) short-lived waste shall refer to nuclear waste, b) class 2 postulated accidents, which can be the activity concentration of which after 500 years assumed to occur less frequently than once during is below the level of 100 megabecquerels (MBq) any period of a thousand operating years; per kilogram in each disposed waste package, and 13) expected evolution scenario shall refer to such In any assessment period, during which the change affecting the performance of barriers that radiation exposure of humans can be assessed has a high probability of causing radiation with sufficient reliability, and which shall extend exposure during the assessment period and which at a minimum over several millennia: can be caused by interactions occurring in the 1) the annual dose to the most exposed people disposal facility, by geological or climatic shall remain below the value of 0.1 mSv; and phenomena or by human action; and 2) the average annual doses to other people shall 14) unlikely events impairing long-term safety remain insignificantly low. shall refer to such potential events significantly affecting the performance of barriers that have a During assessment periods after the period low probability of causing radiation exposure referred to above in subsection 2, average during the assessment period and which can be quantities of radioactive materials over long time caused by geological phenomena or by human periods, released into the living environment from action. the disposed nuclear waste, shall remain below the maximum values specified separately for each Chapter 2 radionuclide by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Radiation safety Authority (STUK). These constraints shall be specified so that:

Section 3 1) at a maximum, radiation impacts caused by Operation of nuclear waste facility disposal can be equivalent to those caused by natural radioactive materials in earth’s crust; and A nuclear waste facility and its operation shall be 2) on a large scale, the radiation impacts remain designed so that: insignificantly low. 1) the radiation exposure of workers at the facility is limited by all practicable means and so that the Section 5 maximum values laid down in the Radiation Consideration of unlikely events Decree (1512/1991) are not exceeded; 2) as a consequence of undisturbed operation of The significance of unlikely events impairing the facility, releases of radioactive materials into long-term safety shall be assessed by evaluating the environment remain insignificantly low; the reality, probability and possible consequences 3) as a consequence of assumed operational of each event. Whenever possible, the occurrences, the annual dose to the most exposed acceptability of the expectancies of radiation people other than workers of the facility remains impacts caused by such events shall be evaluated below the value of 0.1 millisievert (mSv); and in relation to the annual dose and release rate 4) as consequence of a postulated accident, the constraints of radioactive materials, as referred to annual dose to the most exposed people other than in section 4. workers of the facility remains below: a) the value of 1 mSv when a Class 1 postulated Chapter 3 accident occurs; Design requirements for a nuclear waste b) the value of 5 mSv when a Class 2 postulated facility accident occurs. When applying this section, radiation doses Section 6 arising from natural radioactive materials in the Handling of spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear host rock of or released from groundwater bodies waste into the underground rooms of the disposal facility, shall not be taken into account. Spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste shall be conditioned and packed in accordance with

Section 4 disposal specifications. Waste packages shall be Long-term radiation impacts of disposal classified on the basis of their characteristics. Constraints and other quality specifications shall Disposal of nuclear waste shall be planned so that be defined for each class, necessary in terms of radiation impacts arising as a consequence of the operational safety of the nuclear waste facility expected evolution scenarios will not exceed the and the long-term safety of disposal, and which constraints given in subsections 2 and 3. the waste packages are required to meet. The nuclear waste facility shall employ effective settle into a state deemed preferable from the radiation protection arrangements in order to limit safety point of view. the occupational radiation exposure and radiation The design of a nuclear waste facility shall take impacts caused in the environment of the facility. account of any impacts caused by potential natural In waste handling, releases of radioactive phenomena and other events external to the materials inside the facility and into the facility. As external events, even unlawful environment shall be prevented and limited as activities aiming at damaging the facility shall be necessary with containment, recovery and filtering taken into account. systems. Sufficient radiation protection shall be In a nuclear waste facility, the placement and ensured in handling of spent nuclear fuel or other protection of systems alongside operative methods highly irradiating nuclear waste by using remote shall ensure that fire, explosions or other events handling and radiation shielding. inside the facility do not pose a threat to safety. In handling of spent nuclear fuel, any damage to the fuel and occurrence of a self-sustaining chain Section 9 reaction of fissions shall be prevented, and Disposal operations sufficient cooling of the fuel shall be ensured, to a high degree of certainty. The transfer of waste packages into the emplacement rooms shall be carried out so that

Section 7 the possibility of accidents remain low and the Safety classification packages cannot be damaged in any way that would affect long-term safety. The systems, structures and components of a The disposal package containing spent nuclear nuclear waste facility shall be classified on the fuel shall be designed so that no self-sustaining basis of their significance in terms of the chain reaction of fissions can occur, even in the operational safety of the facility, or the long-term disposal conditions. safety of disposal. The required quality level of The emplacement activities shall be separated each classified object, and the inspections and from the excavation and construction work of the testing necessary for verifying the quality, shall be disposal facility in such a manner as to ensure that adequate as regards the significance of the object excavation and construction work cannot have any in terms of safety. harmful impact on the operational safety of the facility or the long-term safety of disposed waste.

Section 8 The long-term performance of barriers shall be Prevention of operational occurrences and confirmed by establishing an investigation and accidents monitoring programme, to be implemented during the operational period of the final disposal facility. In order to prevent operational occurrences and A record shall be maintained of disposed waste, accidents, the design, construction and operation including waste package specific data on the of a nuclear waste facility shall employ proven or waste type, radioactive materials, location within otherwise carefully examined high quality the waste emplacement room, and other necessary technology. A nuclear waste facility shall data. The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority encompass systems that facilitate quick and (STUK) shall arrange the permanent recording of reliable detection of an operational occurrence or information concerning the disposal facility and accident and prevent the aggravation of any event. disposed waste. Effective technical and administrative measures An adequate protection zone shall be reserved shall be provided for the mitigation of the around the disposal facility as a provision for the consequences of potential accidents. prohibitions on measures referred to in paragraph The functions at a nuclear waste facility, the 6, section 63(1) of the Nuclear Energy Act. failure of which could result in a significant release of radioactive materials or radiation Chapter 4 exposure of personnel at the facility, shall be Long-term safety of disposal ensured. Ensuring the functions important to safety shall primarily be based on inherent safety Section 10 features, alongside systems and components that General requirements concerning disposal do not require external power supply or which, as a consequence of a loss of power supply, will Disposal shall be implemented in stages, with to disposal depth shall be that any impacts on the particular attention paid to aspects affecting long- long-term safety of above-ground events, term safety. The planning of the construction, activities and environmental changes will remain operation and closure of a disposal facility shall minor and that intrusion into the waste take account of reduction of the activity of nuclear emplacement rooms will be difficult. waste through interim storage, the utilisation of high-quality technology and scientific data and the Chapter 5 need to ensure long-term safety via investigations Demonstration of compliance with safety and monitoring. However, the implementation of requirements the various stages of disposal shall not be unnecessarily postponed. Section 13 Operational safety of nuclear waste facility

Section 11 Multibarrier principle Compliance with safety requirements concerning the operation of a nuclear waste facility shall be The long-term safety of disposal shall be based on proven in connection with commissioning as far safety functions achieved through mutually as possible. Insofar as this is not possible, complementary barriers so that a deficiency of an operational safety shall be demonstrated through individual safety function or a predictable experimental or computational methods, or via a geological change will not jeopardise the long- combination thereof. Computational methods term safety. shall be selected so that the actual risk or harm Safety functions shall effectively prevent releases remains below the results of calculations, with a of disposed radioactive materials into the bedrock high degree of certainty. Computational methods for a certain period, the length of which depends shall be reliable and validated for dealing with the on the duration of the radioactivity in waste. For events under analysis. The selection of operational short-lived waste, this period shall be at least occurrences and accidents to be analysed shall several hundreds of years, and for long-lived take account of their estimated probabilities. waste, at least several thousands of years.

Section 14

Section 12 Long-term safety Disposal site Compliance with the requirements concerning The geological characteristics of the disposal site long-term radiation safety, and the suitability of shall, as a whole, be favourable to the isolation of the disposal method and disposal site, shall be the radioactive substances from the environment. proven through a safety case that must analyse Any area with a feature that is substantially both expected evolution scenarios and unlikely adverse to long-term safety shall not be selected events impairing long-term safety. The safety case as the disposal site. comprises a numerical analysis based on The planned final disposal site shall contain experimental studies and complementary sufficiently large, intact rock volumes that considerations insofar as quantitative analyses are facilitate the construction of the waste not feasible or involve considerable uncertainties. emplacement rooms. For the purposes of disposal Compliance with the radiation exposure facility design and acquiring data required for constraints for the most exposed people, as safety assessments, the geological characteristics referred to in section 4 above, shall be proven by of the host rock at the site shall be characterized considering a community that derives nutrition through investigations at the intended disposal from the immediate surroundings of the disposal depth, in addition to surface based investigations. site and is most exposed to radiation. In addition The layout, excavation, construction and closure to impacts on people, possible impacts on flora of underground facilities shall be implemented so and fauna shall be analysed. that the characteristics of the host rock deemed important in terms of long-term safety are Section 15 retained, as far as possible. Reliability of the safety case The depth of the waste emplacement rooms shall be selected appropriately as regards the waste type The input data and models utilised in the safety and local geological conditions. The goal related case shall be based on high-quality research data and expert judgement. Data and models shall be Instructions shall be made available for the validated as far as possible, and correspond to the identification and control of operational conditions likely to prevail at the disposal site occurrences and accidents. Significant events during the assessment period. influencing safety shall be documented so as to The basis for selecting the computational methods facilitate their later analysis. used shall be that the actual radiation exposure The Technical Specifications of a nuclear waste and quantities of radioactive materials released facility shall include the technical and remain below the results of safety analyses, with a administrative requirements for ensuring the high degree of certainty. The uncertainties operation of the facility in compliance with design involved in the safety analysis, and their bases. The licensee shall operate the facility in significance, shall be separately assessed. compliance with these requirements and restrictions, and supervise compliance and report

Section 16 any deviations from them. Presentation of, and updates to, the safety case The nuclear waste facility shall have a condition monitoring and maintenance programme for The safety case shall be presented in connection ensuring the integrity and reliable operation of with the construction licence application and the systems, structures and components. Written operating licence application of the nuclear waste orders and appended instructions shall be issued facility. The safety case shall be updated at 15 for the service and repair of components. year intervals unless otherwise provided in the Compliance with requirements concerning the licence conditions. Furthermore, the safety case operational radiation safety of the nuclear waste shall be updated prior to the permanent closure of facility shall be ensured through continuous or the facility. periodic measurements inside the facility, in possible significant release routes and in the Chapter 6 environs of the facility. Construction and operation of the nuclear waste facility Chapter 7 Organisation and personnel

Section 17 Construction and commissioning Section 19 Safety culture The holder of a construction licence for the nuclear waste facility shall ensure that the facility When designing, constructing, operating and will be constructed in compliance with the decommissioning or closing a nuclear waste approved plans and procedures. Moreover, the facility, a good safety culture shall be maintained. licensee shall ensure that the plant supplier and In its decisions and operations, the management of subcontractors producing services and products the organisation concerned shall demonstrate its important in terms of safety act in an appropriate commitment to procedures and solutions manner. promoting safety. Personnel shall be motivated to In connection with the commissioning of a perform responsible work and an open working nuclear waste facility, the licensee shall ensure atmosphere shall be promoted in the working that the systems, structures and components and community, in order to encourage the the facility as a whole operate in the planned identification, reporting and elimination of factors manner. The licensee shall also ensure that an endangering safety. Personnel shall be given the expedient organisation is in place for the future opportunity to contribute to the continuous safety operation of the facility, alongside a sufficient enhancement. number of qualified personnel and instructions suitable for the purpose. Section 20 Safety and quality management

Section 18 Operation Organisations participating in the design, construction, operation and decommissioning or The operation of a nuclear waste facility shall be closure of a nuclear waste facility shall employ a based on written instructions that correspond to management system for ensuring the management the current structure and state of the facility. of safety and quality. The objective of the management system is to ensure that safety is development and maintenance of the professional prioritised without exception, and that quality skills of the persons working in these positions, management requirements are commensurate with and adequate command of the knowledge required the significance to safety of the activity. This for the positions shall be verified. management system shall be systematically assessed and further developed. Chapter 8 Safety and quality management shall cover all Miscellaneous provisions activities influencing the safety of the nuclear waste facility. For each activity, requirements Section 22 significant in safety terms shall be identified, and Disposal in the ground planned measures described in order to ensure compliance with requirements. The processes and If nuclear waste, as referred to in the Nuclear procedures shall be systematic and based on Energy Act, will be disposed of in a facility instructions. constructed in the ground, said disposal shall be Systematic procedures shall be in place for planned and implemented in compliance with the identifying and correcting deviations significant in requirements laid down in sections 3—9 and 13— safety terms. 21 herein. Only very low-level waste, the average The licensee shall commit and oblige its activity concentration of which does not exceed employees and suppliers, subcontractors and other the value of 100 kBq per kilogram, and the total partners contributing to safety relevant activities activity of which does not exceed the limits laid to engage in systematic safety and quality down in section 6(1) of the Nuclear Energy management. Decree, can be placed in a facility constructed in the ground.

Section 21 Lines of management, responsibilities and Section 23 expertise Entry into force This Decree enters into force on 1 December The lines of management in the organisation of a 2008. nuclear waste facility, alongside the positions and This Decree repeals the Decision of the Council of related responsibilities of employees, shall be State on the general regulations for the safety of a defined and documented. The organisation shall disposal facility for reactor waste (398/1991), have access to the professional expertise and issued on 14 February 1991, and the Government technical knowledge required for the safe Decision on the safety of disposal of spent nuclear operation of the nuclear waste facility and long- fuel (478/1999), issued on 25 March 1999. term safety of nuclear waste disposal. Measures required for the enforcement of the Duties significant to safety shall be designated. Decree can be undertaken prior to the entry into Training programmes shall be prepared for the force of the Decree. Issued in Helsinki, 27 November 2008 Mauri Pekkarinen, Minister of Economic Affairs Pasi Mustonen, Senior Adviser