Financial provision for future nuclear waste management in Finland

The main principle as regards nuclear waste management in Finland is that the operator that has produced nuclear waste is responsible for the management of all such nuclear waste. It has to take care of its waste (including that of decommissioning) until it has been disposed of in a manner accepted by the authorities. Spent nuclear fuel is considered to be nuclear waste subject to disposal into a final repository. According to the Nuclear Energy Act, all nuclear waste produced in Finland must be handled, stored and disposed of in Finland. The spent fuel and other nuclear wastes are stored at the power plant sites until they are disposed of. At the both two sites there already are the final repositories for low and intermediate level waste. The funding system is based on the principle that, if a nuclear facility would stop its operation and also stop to produce more waste, the money in the Fund and the securities given to the State would, together, always suffice to handle the situation and take care of the management of all the existing waste and dismantling and decommissioning of the plant. As the actual waste management measures would not be taken immediately, the interest accrued, in the meantime, by this existing capital is used to compensate for the inflation and cost escalation. The critical question is how the system takes into account the difficulty of arriving at reliable estimates. The Finnish funding system contains some built-in features to minimise the risk of the State having to contribute additional funds to carrying out these operations. The system continuously requires new updated estimates that must take into account the practical experience accumulating world-wide. The estimates must, however, always be based on technology currently available. Additionally, the law also requires that the uncertainty of available information about prices and costs shall be taken into account, in a reasonable manner, as raising the estimated liability. In the case, where a facility would unexpectedly stop its operation and the funds should be transferred to the State, the Fund has full rights to require the licence-holder to pay its loans back to the Fund or, alternatively, to realise the securities. The interest of this capital is also available to the State and is assumed to compensate for inflation and related cost escalation. The State can also, if there is a need, realise the 10% supplementary securities