Greenpeace activists in Olkiluoto call for an end to nuclear construction

Three Greenpeace activists skied and paddled to the construction site of Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor on Monday morning. They climbed to one of the cranes with a banner saying “more nuclear waste to our children” in Finnish. The activists call for an end to nuclear construction because of the health and environmental hazard caused by nuclear waste. Building another reactor in addition to Olkiluoto 3 would make Finland the largest producer of nuclear waste in the world on a per capita basis.

"Construction of new nuclear reactors needs to stop for two reasons: Firstly, because of the enormous risks to health and environment caused by nuclear waste. And, secondly, because Finland is able to produce enough electricity with safe renewable sources of energy", says Greenpeace energy campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta. The two existing reactors in Olkiluoto produce 40 tons of extremely radioactive nuclear waste. 1500 tons, or 250 truckloads, of the material is in intermediate storage in Olkiluoto. The Olkiluoto 3 reactor, if completed, would produce another 25 tons per year of waste that is dramatically more radioactive than that from existing reactors. The new reactor is designed to burn uranium more intensely and, as a consequence, the resulting nuclear waste contains up to 7-fold more of easily released, extremely toxic substances. A permanent nuclear waste dumpsite is planned underground in Olkiluoto for all high-level nuclear waste produced in Finnish nuclear reactors. The plan is to bury the waste on the Olkiluoto island, on the coast of the Baltic sea and partially directly under the sea. Once the waste containment fails, radioactive contamination would spread into the Baltic sea in 50-100 years. The planned nuclear waste dumpsite would be an environmental crime, not a solution to nuclear waste.

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