Digging in the dirt: California mining firms seek to clean up lithium's production footprint

Three large mining projects based in California's "Lithium Valley" aim to recover lithium with minimal environmental impacts. They have the potential to simplify the global lithium supply chain.

California's rapidly shrinking lake is at the forefront of efforts to make the US 

a major global player in lithium production

About 200 miles (321 kilometers) east of Los Angeles lies the Salton Sea, California's largest lake by area. It was once a recreation destination and home to a highly productive fishery, but in recent decades the lake has begun to dry up. Now the region has become famous for its most valuable mineral resource — lithium.

Until a decade ago, lithium was mainly used for glass and ceramic production. Now, roughly 70% of lithium is used for batteries. As electric vehicles continue to gain popularity, global lithium demand is skyrocketing.

Last year, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring half of all new cars sold in the United States in 2030 to be zero-emission electric vehicles (EVs). This was seen as a bold step toward reducing carbon emissions, but critics point out that the US isn't prepared to manufacture electric vehicles at that level. A critical limiting factor is that the US produces very little lithium domestically.

Similarly, the European Parliament approved a mandate that all new car sales need to be zero-emission EVs by 2035. But Europe also depends heavily on imports to meet its lithium demand.

Access to a steady supply of lithium is pivotal for the US's and Europe's e-mobility transition, which is why the Salton Sea's mineral resources have suddenly gained attention.

Hollywood's jetset once crowded the shores of Salton Sea. Today, lithium

 is rekindling the hopes of the communities

Top lithium brine deposit

As the edges of the Salton Sea recede, pools of salty, lithium-rich brine are left below ground. In this way the death of the Salton Sea, which is being caused partly by drought conditions worsened by climate change, is becoming part of the solution for mitigating climate change.

Michael McKibben, a geochemist and research professor at University of California Riverside, leads a study analyzing lithium resources in the area.

"I've taken both a conservative approach and an optimistic approach to estimating the amount of lithium," McKibben told DW. "It's somewhere between 1 and 6 million metric tons of dissolved lithium metal in the brines." (Or a lithium carbonate equivalent of 5 to 32 million metric tons.)

According to McKibben, that makes this area one of the top lithium brine deposits in the world.

Three companies are racing to tap into this immense lithium resource. If their projects succeed, they will establish a method for extracting lithium without the negative impacts of conventional lithium mining.

The three companies involved are Energy Source Minerals, Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE), and Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR). Energy Source Minerals appears to be the closest to their goal. They aim to collect battery-grade lithium at commercial scale by 2024. Berkshire Hathaway Energy has set 2026 as a goal for beginning commercial production. Controlled Thermal Resources has gained investment backing from General Motors.

With its drilling rig in Calipatria and other renewable energy projects, 

CTR has gained a headstart in green lithium mining

Don't call it mining

What sets these projects apart from conventional lithium mining is their connection to geothermal power plants, 11 of which are already established in the area. Geothermal plants pump up hot brine from underground and use the steam to generate electricity before re-injecting the brine back into the ground. Now they will add one more step — removing lithium from the brine before it's re-injected.

"It's important not to call it mining," said McKibben, who prefers the term "lithium recovery," because compared with conventional lithium mining, this process has minimal environmental impacts.

Conventionally, lithium is extracted in the form of hard rock, or from salts collected in solar ponds.

Hard rock lithium mining involves digging vast, open pits to pull out rocks like spodumene, which then need to be roasted and dissolved in acid. It's a fossil fuel-intensive process, and has a devastating impact on the local environment. The vast majority of hard rock mines are in Australia, and to a lesser extent, China and Africa.

Salar pond mining involves pumping brine to the surface and leaving it in shallow pools. After the water evaporates, lithium-rich mineral salts remain. Salar ponds, also called salt evaporation ponds, take up thousands of square kilometers and deplete groundwater reserves, especially in desert regions where local populations depend on them. This method is most prevalent in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Compared with salar ponds or hard rock mine pits, a geothermal power plant is relatively small, so direct lithium recovery projects require much less land use. The process avoids both the destruction and waste created by hard rock mining. It has a much smaller effect on groundwater sources than solar pond mining, because brine is re-injected into the ground after its use.

On-site battery production could simplify EV supply chain

In addition to lithium production, there are plans to build battery production factories nearby, which could change the EV battery supply chain on a global scale.

Today the vast majority of lithium is shipped to China to be refined. Refined lithium is then shipped to Japan for cathode production, and cathodes are shipped to the US for battery production.

By manufacturing batteries on-site, the carbon emissions from shipping lithium around the world are cut. Additionally, the US gains the strategic advantage of controlling part of the lithium supply chain, which could be of vital importance if conflicts between China and the US were to trigger sanctions.

Proponents of the project say that battery manufacturing plants would create thousands of jobs in a county that currently has an unemployment rate which is three times higher than the US average. Also, these projects will amount to significant income for the state of California, due to a recently approved tax on lithium production.

The beginnings of a clean lithium revolution?

Internationally, other projects are developing similar processes for use in other regions. Lake Resources is developing a project in Puna, Argentina, and Vulcan Energy Resources is working to bring the process to its geothermal power plants in Germany.

"We are very familiar with the developments in California," said Horst Kreuter, CEO and founder of Vulcan Energy Resources. "Our technical director for lithium extraction was involved in lithium extraction in California in a leading role for over six years" he told DW.

Vulcan Energy aims to begin commercial production of lithium in Germany by 2024-2025.

If these projects prove successful, a path to cleaner lithium production may be just around the corner.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Haiti: How criminal gangs have taken control

Emboldened by politicians for years, Haitian gangs have equipped themselves with sophisticated weapons and control most of the country's capital Port-au Prince.


Haiti's gangs have thrived on the economic and political corruption,
and have been empowered by the elites.

A recent upsurge in gang warfare has claimed hundreds of Haitian lives and displaced thousands in the capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area, as the country plunges into lawlessness.

The heavy turf war has been raging for months now, but it has become more intense and widespread in the past few weeks, paralyzing most of the country.


In the past weeks, clashes between the gangs spread into the main avenues of the capital, near the presidential palace.

The clashes have occurred more prominently in the Cite Soleil neighborhood in the capital, home to about 300,000 people and one of the country's biggest slums, where gangs have gained more influence over the past several years. There, the gang members have been destroying slum homes with bulldozers to expand their territory, as well as raping women and girls, and killing ordinary citizens at random. Outgunned by the gangs, the army seems unable to exert control and contain the violence.
How gangs undermine the government's control

For years, Haiti's political elites used gangs to achieve their own objectives, silence dissent, and confront their rivals.

Although criminal organizations' intervention in politics is not unique to Haiti, it has reached unprecedented levels in the poor Caribbean nation, especially so following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.

Devastated by violence, lack of food, and fuel, Haitians have marched the
streets several times in the past months.

Powerful business families in Haiti have been paying gangs to sustain the security of their trade for them. This is how some of the bigger groups like G9 have gained control over the capital's port and managed to smuggle weapons of war for themselves, some of which are more advanced than the guns that the Haitian armed forces use.

In July, a string of arms-trafficking scandals in Haiti, including the discovery of weapons in a shipping container labeled as church donations, prompted the UN Security Council to push for international cooperation to stop the flow guns from the United States into Haiti.

In the past few weeks, the G9 have blocked the port, where most of the imported goods enter the country, exacerbating the food and fuel crisis.
Gangs instead of an army

A lack of a well-funded army has created a power void that Haiti's major gangs are competing to fill in. Haiti dismantled its army in 1995 following a coup in 1991, after decades of military interference in politics and mutiny.

Since then, Haitian politicians, most notably former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who came to power in 2001, have increasingly resorted to gangs as a more reliable and obedient source of power to suppress rebellions.



Haiti's armed forces are outgunned and outnumbered by criminal gangs.

The slain president, Jovenel Moise, tried to remobilize the army in 2017, but he never managed to round up enough soldiers and resources to match the gangs' growing gun and manpower.

The exact number of gang members is hard to come by, but according to the National Human Rights Defense Network, there are more than 90 gangs in the country.
The country is plummeting into disaster

Once one of the wealthiest French colonies, the nation of 11 million people suffers from an unproductive economy, with about two-thirds of its GDP coming from the money those Haitian migrants send home and international aid, according to World Bank data. The government tax revenue, the primary source of funding for a national army stands as low as 5.6% of its relatively small GDP.



Haiti's local production has almost stopped for a few years now, with the
country importing most of its needs from outside.

About 60% of the population lives in poverty, with nearly half the population in immediate need of food assistance and 1.2 million suffering from extreme hunger, according to the UN World Food Program.

The spread of gang violence has made things worse.

Between 2016 and 2020 gang violence cost the country $4.2 billion (€4.1 billion) per year, or 30% of its GDP, Bloomberg reported in September 2021. The resulting chaos has also discouraged foreign investment, blocked trade routes, and disrupted the remains of the local economy, driving up inflation rates and food and fuel prices.


The turf war has seen schools and universities closed and the grim economic
prospect boosts the gangs' influence.

A UN report quoted a survey by two local youth-focused organizations which found that 13% of the children in one troubled neighborhood in Port-au-Prince had been in contact with members of armed gangs who tried to recruit them.

Without immediate, sizable intervention that can stop the vicious cycle of violence, chaos and poverty, Haitian youth would have few options rather than joining the gangs to survive.

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Philippines: Rights groups fear rollback of reproductive care

Many fear that the US move to overturn Roe v. Wade could curb tenuous rights gains in the Philippines. Abortion policies in the country are some of the most restrictive in the world.

In the Philippines, having an abortion is punishable with imprisonment —

 for both the pregnant person and medical provider

Women's rights advocates in the Philippines fear that the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States could also reverse precarious gains in reproductive and sexual health rights in the Southeast Asian country. The US ruling, which was made in 1973 and overturned in June, guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.

Many believe that the United States' approach to reproductive health care could set the stage for the Philippines. 

Abortion policies in the predominantly Catholic Philippines are among the most restrictive in the world, originally derived from the penal code under Spanish colonial rule. There are no clear exceptions even in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the pregnant person.

Meanwhile, having an abortion is punishable with imprisonment — for both the pregnant person and the medical provider. 

"There is nothing worse than our abortion policies. Those opposed to decriminalizing abortion will be emboldened to use the overturning of Roe v. Wade to sway public opinion," Marevic Parcon, executive director for Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), told DW. 

WGNRR, together with the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN), a coalition of non-government organizations, has been advocating for the decriminalization of abortion as well as an end to fines and imprisonment for pregnant people who seek abortions, and the medical providers who perform the procedure. 

A news report on the government website quoted Bishop Crispin Varquez, head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) as welcoming the overturning of the US ruling as a "piece of good news and one that is enlightened by the Holy Spirit."

Fears over limited access to birth control

Shebana Alqaseer, co-founder of the Young Feminist Collective, recalled the horror she felt when the US Supreme Court announced its decision to reverse the 1973 ruling, which granted a constitutional right to an abortion across the United States.

"If a country as free as the US continues to revert to archaic laws, what hope is left for us? Banning abortions won't stop them from happening. What it does is make abortion unsafe, putting people's lives at risk just for attempting to access the care they need," Alqaseer told DW.

Data compiled by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRC) shows that illegal and unsafe abortions in the Philippines increased from 560,000 in 2008 to up to 610,000 in 2012. Meanwhile, PINSAN estimates that three pregnant people die every day from complications related to unsafe abortions, often performed in unsanitary conditions and using outdated techniques. 

Limited access to birth control and reproductive health care put poor women, young women and those in rural areas at a higher risk of unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortions. 

Several domestic laws and policies allow women the right to receive health care for complications related to unsafe abortion. However, the abortion ban has stigmatized the procedure.

According to the CRC, pregnant people who seek post-abortion care are denied care or harassed and intimidated by health care workers who threaten to report them to the police.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), under proper health care guidelines and when performed by a skilled healthworker, abortion is "a simple and extremely safe procedure."

"Being able to obtain a safe abortion is a crucial part of health care," Craig Lissner, the WHO's acting director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, said in a statement. An estimated 25 million unsafe abortions occur globally each year. 

In 2011, people in the Philippines took to the streets to call for a reproductive health care bill,

 but abortion restrictions in the country remain harsh.

Divided public opinion

April, a 48-year-old woman from Manila, is against abortion but would not pass judgment against women who need access to it. "I understand why women may need an abortion, but as someone who actually attempted abortion when I was younger, I'm glad my attempt failed," she told DW.

April, who asked that only her first name be used for privacy reasons, said that instead of abortion, reproductive health care services and birth control should be made more available to women. "For example, I asked my doctor to perform a tubal ligation on me, but she refused because of religious reasons." A tubal ligation prevents women from getting pregnant by closing a woman's fallopian tubes. 

Rom Dongeto, the chairperson of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) told DW that with the US poised to review other legislation related to birth control and same-sex marriage, gender rights advocates need to plan counter strategies. 

Dongeto's committee is also aiming to liberalize teen access to birth control through a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Bill. Under current laws, minors are unable to access contraceptives in government clinics without parental consent, even as teen pregnancies surge.

"It will be a more difficult battle from here on. We need to brace ourselves," he added. 

Edited by: Leah Carter

Monkeypox in kids is rare but infections can be serious

The number of children who've caught monkeypox is tiny compared to infections among adults. But at least four European countries have reported cases in kids.

The World Health Organization has named monkeypox a global emergency, 

the UN body's highest level of alert

Germany's health authority, the Robert Koch Institute, has reported the country's first case of monkeypox in a child (August 9, 2022).

The RKI says the case was detected in a 4-year-old girl living in a household with two infected adults in Pforzheim, a city in Germany's southwestern federal state of Baden-Württemberg.

The child was tested for monkeypox after a close contact in the household had fallen ill with it.

Baden-Württemberg's health ministry told DW that the child had had no close contacts outside the home and had not exhibited any symptoms.

Monkeypox in children outside Germany 

Other cases in children have been reported in the US, France, the Netherlands and Spain.

Globally, there are 25 cases in children aged four and younger, according to the World Health Organization.

In the next age bracket, up to 17 years, the WHO says monkeypox is relatively uncommon, with just 98 cases in the world among about 17,400 cases for which the patient's age is known.

Overall, there are an estimated 31,800 cases of monkeypox.

How monkeypox affects kids

There is little evidence from countries where monkeypox is non-endemic to understand how the virus could affect kids.

During a 2003 monkeypox outbreak in the US (which officials think could have been caused by human contact with prairie dogs), 28 people were reported to have been infected and only two experienced serious clinical illness — both were children. They recovered.

Aside from that, information about pediatric cases is sparse outside Africa, where monkeypox is endemic in at least eight countries. But studying how the illness affects kids in Africa can offer some potential insight.

Between 2001 and 2021, monkeypox death rates in the Central African Republic were higher in children than in adults: 9.6% of kids versus 5.2% of adults died, according to Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the Norwich Medical School in the UK. This information was shared at a WHO conference.

And during a 1985 outbreak in Zaire, death rates were highest among children aged four and under, at a rate of 14.9%, followed by 6.5% in kids aged 5-9 years, according to a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. There were no deaths in kids aged 10 years and up.

"Children, especially children under 5, remain at higher risk of severe disease," said Hunter. "But we are seeing a much lower overall mortality in the current pandemic and I suspect a significant part of that is down to better access to health care."

Overall, Hunter said that although the risk of severe disease and death in very young children is indeed greater than in healthy adults, it will still be "quite a bit lower than we have seen in Africa in recent years."

Monkeypox cases in children are rare, with just 25 cases in kids under

 the age of four around the world (at time of writing)

The mysterious Dutch case

In late June 2022, researchers in the Netherlands were made aware of a monkeypox case in a 10-year-old boy.

The boy's illness was especially interesting given the fact that over the course of the global outbreak, which started in May, it hadn't been clear to researchers exactly how the virus spreads.

Although the overwhelming majority (over 98%) of reported cases are among men who have sex with men, research hasn't indicated that the virus is spread exclusively through semen or sexual contact.

Rather, most investigations have concluded that it is spread through very close contact with the lesions that monkeypox causes, or other bodily fluids from an infected person.

Investigators first confirmed that the boy had not experienced sexual abuse — as sexual contact is a means of transmitting monkeypox — and then tested the rest of the boy's family members for the virus.

All were negative, not only for the virus itself but also in serological testing, which would have shown whether the boy's case had been caused by a recent infection or a vaccination in another family member.

The researchers remained unable to figure out where, or how, the child had gotten infected.

According to study author Matthijs Welkers, the boy's infection was very mild. The boy developed around 20 of the virus's trademark "pocks" on his body.

"During his isolation period at home, he mainly was bored and really wanted to go back to school," Welks told DW. "After the three weeks [of isolation], the scabs of the lesions fell off and he [went] back to school."

A monkeypox vaccine for school kids and teachers

Now, with the start of a new school year rapidly approaching in many countries, some people are asking whether special precautions should be taken to protect kids and teachers, where kids learn and play in close contact all day.

There is good reason for it. Health department officials in the US state of Illinois reported a potential exposure to monkeypox in a daycare, where a teacher had tested positive in early August. None of the children had tested positive for the virus at time of writing, but American health officials are offering them the Jynneos vaccine — also known as the Imvanex vaccine as a precaution.

The Jynneos/Imvanex vaccine is being produced around the world to

 distribute to people at risk of catching monkeypox

Jynneos/Imvanex is the only vaccine approved to specifically treat monkeypox, although some countries are also using older vaccines designed to prevent smallpox.

And we can all use basic hygiene ideas, as we have during the COVID pandemic.

Health experts stress that people should wash their hands frequently — if you touch a contaminated surface, the virus can infect you if you touch your mouth, eyes or nose. And you should avoid extended skin-to-skin contact with people who suspect they could have been exposed to, or are confirmed to have, monkeypox.

Research doesn't show any evidence of airborne transmission of monkeypox, and surface transmission — although potentially possible — is less likely than transmission through skin-to-skin contact or contact with saliva, such as through kissing, for example.

So, bear that in mind and watch out for the symptoms:

The WHO says typical monkeypox symptoms include fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes. The rash, or "pocks", typically show up one to three days after the initial symptoms. 

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

Germany: Rhine water levels expected to drop even further

Already critically low water levels in Germany's most important waterway could drop even lower next week. Shipping costs have climbed as much as five times as barges are forced to carry fewer goods.

 low water levels have increased the chance of a recession in Germany

Water levels are expected to keep dropping in the Rhine, a key shipping route for Germany

German authorities are bracing for further shipping disruptions due to low levels in busy waterways.

The Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) has forecast that water levels in the Rhine River will continue dropping until the beginning of next week.

BfG expert Bastian Klein told Germany's dpa press agency that shallow-draft barges can pass through the Middle Rhine in levels as low as 30 to 35 centimeters. But, by next week, levels at the Kaub gauge, the most important water level measurement station in the Middle Rhine, could slip to 30 centimeters, potentially bringing traffic to a standstill.

The Kaub gauge is located around 50 kilometers downstream from the city of Mainz. 

Fully loaded ships generally need a level of at least about 1.5 meters, but a persistent lack of rain and high temperatures have led to low water levels.

Barges on the Rhine — which carry critical supplies for German industrial giants and coal for power plants — are already being loaded at just one-quarter to one-half capacity, to keep them higher in the water. 

Boats are also in shorter supply than normal, due to increased demand for coal amid the energy crisis, and some ships being diverted to pick up Ukrainian grain via the Danube.

This has pushed up shipping costs by as much as five times, according to industry reports.

Normally covered by water, the banks of the Rhine grow larger in Cologne

Rerouted to rail

Germany's Transport and Economy Ministries are working to divert supply chains to rail, and are considering intervening to prioritize critical goods, a transport ministry spokesman told Reuters agency.

In 2018, even lower water levels led to production problems and supply bottlenecks for German companies.

Other rivers have faced similar problems, leading to problems for the tourist industry. For example, low water levels in the Weser, in Germany’s northwest, have led to the cancellation of tourist ferries.

And in Lake Constance, on the border with Switzerland and Austria, pleasure boats have been left stranded as water levels drop to lows not seen since 2003. 

Shipping issues may also affect the upcoming grain harvest in Germany, with the Raiffeisen Association telling public broadcaster SWR that storage areas in southern Germany are already full and the grain cannot be transported away in sufficient quantities.

To replace one barge, up to 40 trucks are required to carry the same load of grain.And the trucking industry has long complained of a shortage of drivers, a situation only exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Increased chance of recession

A study by British analysis firm Capital Economics released on Thursday found that the low water levels have increased the chance of a recession in Germany, potentially costing 0.2 percentage points of economic growth in the third and fourth quarters.

Capital Economics' chief economist Andrew Kenningham said Germany is particularly reliant on its rivers to transport freight, especially for industrial raw materials such as coal, crude oil, coke and basic chemicals. 

Separately, masses of dead fish were reported in the eastern Oder river. Reports from Brandenburg said several tons of dead fish washed up on the banks of the river in Brandenburg.

Water levels are currently low in the Oder, but authorities are investigating whether the river, which runs through Poland, was polluted. Workers dealing with the dead fish reported skin rashes from contact with the water.

aw/wmr (dpa, Reuters)

JOHN DILLENGER OF BEIRUT

Lebanese gunman holds bank staff hostage to access his savings

A crowd of protesters gathered outside the bank to support the gunman, with some hailing him as a hero. Lebanon is grappling with a severe economic crisis — the country's worst in modern history.

Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein said he wanted to withdraw his own savings to pay for his father's medical bills

A gunman who held 10 people hostage inside a Lebanese bank in order to access his own savings has turned himself into police on Thursday after an seven-hour standoff. Nobody was injured during the ordeal.

Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a food-delivery driver, said he needed to withdraw his money to pay for his father's medical bills.

On Thursday, the 42-year-old entered a Federal Bank branch in Beirut with a shotgun and a jerrycan of gasoline. He had around $210,000 (€204,000) deposited there, according to his family.

Inside, Hussein held seven or eight staff hostage, plus two customers, and demanded access to his savings. One security source told the AFP news agency that he also poured the gasoline "all over the bank."

Bank withdrawals restricted

Lebanon is in the midst of a severe economic crisis — the country's worst in modern history. Essential goods are in short supply, while a plummeting local currency has led banks to impose tight restrictions on withdrawals.

Lenders have also prevented customers from transferring money overseas.

A crowd of anti-bank protesters gathered outside the branch to show support for the gunman

"What led us to this situation is the state's failure to resolve this economic crisis and the banks' and Central Bank's actions, where people can only retrieve some of their own money as if it's a weekly allowance,'' said Abou Zour, who is with the legal advocacy group the Depositors' Union is representing the gunman and his family.

"This has led to people taking matters into their own hands,'' he added.

Gunman hailed a 'hero'

Outside the bank, supporters of Hussein gathered to protest against the country's dire economic situation. Some even called him a hero.

"My brother is not a scoundrel. He is a decent man. He takes what he has from his own pocket to give to others,'' Hussein's brother Atef said during the standoff.

Hussein's wife, Mariam Chehadi, told reporters outside the bank that her husband "did what he had to do.''

Onlookers gathered for seven hours as the gunman negotiated with police

After hours of negotiations, Hussein's lawyer said he agreed to receive $35,000 of his savings and hand himself over to police.

"Similar incidents keep happening," said George al-Hajj, head of Lebanon's bank employee's union. "We need a radical solution."

"Depositors want their money, and unfortunately their anger explodes in the face of bank employees because they cannot reach the management," he added.

zc/jcg (AFP, AP, Reuters)

WAIT, WHAT?!

Finns say yes to nuclear waste

Finland is building the world's first permanent disposal site for nuclear waste. As Teri Schultz finds, there's no shortage of people wanting to be its neighbors.

She is somewhat shocked to be asked if she's concerned about environmental risks from the nuclear site, saying it had not occurred to her — "no, never!"

The Olkiluoto nuclear island near Eurajoki contains three reactors and the 

world's first permanent storage site for high-level radioactive waste

It's inconceivable to people in most parts of the world that anyone would actively want to live near a nuclear waste site. But in the western Finnish town of Eurajoki, there's no NIMBYism ("Not In My Backyard") as the municipality actually campaigned against other cities to have the disposal site located there, next to the existing Olkiluoto nuclear power plant.

Authorities determined that this area had best mix of a bedrock of public support and actual bedrock to become spent nuclear fuel's final resting place, almost half a kilometer underground.

Don't worry, be Finnish?

Mayor Vesa Lakaniemi explains that being home to three reactors and the repository — called Onkalo, which means "little cave" in Finnish — provides long-term security for his residents. Real-estate taxes from the nuclear site bring in about 20 million euros per year, almost half the municipality's annual revenue.

"That's how we can plan our future investments," Lakaniemi says. He gestures to the school that's just been renovated behind city hall and a large new library just across the parking lot, explaining that an eight-million euro sports facility is in the works. "When you have steady income, it's much easier to plan those those future investments. And of course, it's it's very big thing for us that we can also also have very good services for our inhabitants, schools and and health care."

Lakaniemi notes the particularly Finnish characteristic of citizens having high levels of trust in their authorities, but he emphasizes that's been earned here over the last four decades of incident-free nuclear plant management and extensive outreach by Olkiluoto to residents. In addition, he notes, the two decades of planning for the Onkalo repository did not start with politicians.

"First scientists and engineers and experts in that area figure out how it is secure to do final disposal," he explained. "After that came political decision-making and and I think that's the only right way to do it."

Tests of time

Johanna Hansen is one of those scientists. The geologist with Posiva, the waste-management company responsible for Onkalo, has been working on the project half her life. Deep in one of Onkalo's tunnels, Hansen marvels that this bedrock is two billion years old and explains that its stability is what made this location geophysically ideal for the site.

Posiva Communications Director Pasi Tuohimaa and Geologist Johanna Hansen 

check out progress in an Onkalo tunnel half a kilometer below ground.

Spent nuclear fuel from Finland's two power plants will be transported to the site, then transferred into steel canisters at the above-ground part of the facility. Those are put into copper capsules and lowered meters into the carved-out bedrock, where they are packed in bentonite, with the tunnel backfilled and sealed.

Hansen says while there's a lot of confidence already that the system is nearly ready to go, it will still be tested for the next couple of years to "ensure that also in the far future that there are no pathways to the surface. So this facility will store the canisters for 100,00 years."

With obvious pride, she adds, "It's of course nice to see that here in Finland we can show an example also for other countries."

Boost from Brussels

And there are more countries showing interest lately, due in part to the European Union's decision to designate nuclear power as a "green fuel” and to its increasing desire to reduce energy dependence on Russia as it wages war on Ukraine.

Pasi Tuohimaa, head of communications for Posiva, says the EU decision was important to help change other countries' views on nuclear power in general. The potential for a safe permanent solution for waste adds to the appeal. Sweden decided earlier this year to build a site based on the same principles as Onkalo. Tuohimaa expects others will follow suit, and said he's watching the polls move in Germany too.

"A lot of people say, 'okay, nuclear is good, but then you have this waste of used nuclear fuel,'" he explained. "What we are saying is that, no, that's not true. We do have the solution for that, and it's completely safe."

Finns flock just for fun

Of course, that's been an easy sell domestically for decades. "[Finnish] environmentalists already support nuclear power, which is quite remarkable," Tuohimaa said.

Thousands of Finns take a tour of the Olkiluoto nuclear facility every year.

It’s the region’s second most popular tourist site.

Far from being afraid, Finns come to the Olkiluoto power plant for tours. Heli Blomroos, whose family has a summer house nearby, brought her young son Juho, hoping to spark his interest in the nuclear industry as a career.

She is somewhat shocked to be asked if she's concerned about environmental risks from the nuclear site, saying it had not occurred to her — "no, never!"

Blomroos is confident authorities have taken all the necessary precautions. "I trust my fellow citizens. They are professionals in this — they can do it in a safe way," she said. "And it's the first one in the world so it's great!"

Edited by: Rob Mudge