Deep geologic repository progress—2025 Update

July 25, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear NewsEmily Stein

Editor's note: This article has was originally published in November 2023. It has been updated with new information as of June 2025.

Outside my office, there is a display case filled with rock samples from all over the world. It contains a disk of translucent, orange salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.; a core of white-and-bronze gneiss from the site of the future deep geologic repository in Eurajoki, Finland; several angular chunks of fine-grained, gray claystone from the underground research laboratory at Bure, France; and a piece of coarse-grained granite from the underground research tunnel in Daejeon, South Korea.

This collection of rocks from underground research facilities and deep geologic repository sites in North America, Europe, and Asia represents five decades of global research into and development of deep geologic repository concepts for permanent disposal of long-lived radioactive waste. All rely on a system of natural and engineered barriers in stable geologic formations to passively contain and isolate waste over the hundreds of thousands of years required for the decay of long-lived radioactive isotopes. After it is closed, a deep geologic repository is designed to be passively safe. It does not require the ongoing care of institutions, like nuclear power operators or systems of government, which cannot be relied upon to persist into the distant future.

That this rock collection exists demonstrates a remarkable scientific and policy consensus. Safe and technically feasible, deep geologic repositories are the preferred means of protecting people and the environment in the very long term and of addressing the key principle of intergenerational equity: that those who are benefitting from nuclear technologies today must act responsibly to avoid passing on unreasonable risks and burdens to future generations.

History shows that siting and licensing a deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and/or high-level radioactive waste can take decades. The challenges faced while doing so are complex, sitting at the intersection of science, policy, and society. More often than not, progress requires a start-over or reboot, as it will in the United States and as it has, for instance, in France, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Yet, many countries are well on the way toward siting, constructing, or operating a deep geologic repository.

Here is a glimpse of the progress made by the five countries currently leading the pack: Finland, Sweden, France, Switzerland, and Canada. These countries are at various stages in a stepwise process that typically works up to a siting decision, followed by a license to construct, and a license to operate. They expect to begin disposal operations as early as the mid-2020s or as late as the 2050s. Disposal operations could last as long as 100 years.


Several countries are progressing toward deep geologic repositories for long-lived radioactive waste. These five countries are on the verge of siting, constructing, or operating a deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and/or high-level radioactive waste. The experiences highlighted below can help the United States explore potential solutions to high-level waste.


FinlandSwedenFranceSwitzerlandCanada
Host community or regionEurajokiÖsthammarMeuse/Haute-MarneNördlich LägernWabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation/Ignace
StatusLicense application for operation in reviewApproval to construct grantedLicense application to construct in reviewSite selected in 2022Site selected in 2024
Expected start of constructionStarted in 20152020sAround 2027After 2030After 2030
Expected start of disposalMid 2020s2030s2040–2050Around 2050Early 2040s
Projected closure time2120s2080sAround 2150Around 2125Around 2160
Host rockCrystallineCrystallineClayClayCrystalline
Inventory6,500
MTHM SNF
12,000
MTHM SNF
10,000 m3 HLW
73,000 m3 ILW
100 m3 HLW
1,400 m3 SNF
56,000 m3 LLW and ILW
106,100
MTHM SNF

MTHM = metric tons heavy metal; SNF = spent nuclear fuel; HLW = high-level radioactive waste; ILW = intermediate-level radioactive waste; LLW = low-level radioactive waste


Finland—application for a license to operate in review. In Finland, the Onkalo deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel is under construction in the municipality of Eurajoki. In December 2021, Posiva Oy, a joint venture of two nuclear power operators, became the first radioactive waste management organization in the world to submit an application for a license to operate a deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel. Posiva expects that disposal activities could begin soon after an operating license is granted, which could happen by the end of 2025. The repository would be filled to capacity around 100 years from now and sealed shut. The repository, which is 430 meters deep in 1.8-billion-year-old crystalline bedrock, will provide final disposal for up to 6,500 metric tons heavy metal (MTHM) of spent nuclear fuel.


Sweden—approval to construct granted. In 2022, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) received approval from the Swedish government to construct a deep geologic repository in the municipality of Östhammar. SKB, which is owned by the nuclear power operators, began surface preparation in 2025 after receiving a permit from the Land and Environment Court. It must wait for the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority to approve its safety analysis report before it begins excavating repository tunnels. SKB anticipates that disposal operations will begin about 10 years after construction begins. The repository will be 500 meters deep in 1.9-billion-year-old crystalline bedrock. When full, sometime in the 2080s, the repository will contain about 12,000 MTHM of spent nuclear fuel.


France—application for a license to construct in review. In January 2023, the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) submitted a license application for construction of a deep geologic repository in the Meuse/Haute-Marne region. Andra expects that construction of the Cigéo repository and a pilot phase of operations could start around 2027. Handling of radioactive waste packages would begin around 2035–2040. Full-scale disposal operations would begin around 2040–2050 and would last about 100 years. Cigéo, excavated in 160-million-year-old claystone at a depth of 500 meters, will hold approximately 10,000 m3 of high-level radioactive waste and 73,000 m3 of long-lived intermediate-level waste.


Switzerland—site for repository development selected. In September 2022, the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) announced the selection of the site for a deep geologic repository, an area in Nördlich Lägern. Nagra submitted a general license application for the repository in November 2024. Around 2030, the Swiss government is expected to decide whether to proceed, and an optional national referendum may also be taken. Disposal operations are expected to begin around 2050, and the repository is assumed to be closed around 2125 after disposal operations plus an additional period of observation are complete. The repository, to be excavated in a 175-million-year-old clay formation, will hold approximately 100 m3 of high-level radioactive waste from reprocessing, 1,400 m3 of spent fuel assemblies, and 56,000 m3 of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.


Canada—site for repository development selected. In November 2024, the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), a nonprofit funded by the nuclear power operators, concluded a nearly 15-year community-driven process to select Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the township of Ignace as the host communities for the future site of Canada’s spent nuclear fuel repository. The NWMO started its voluntary siting process in 2010 with 22 municipalities and Indigenous communities expressing interest in learning more. By 2023, two areas in the province of Ontario remained in the process: the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation–Ignace area and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation–South Bruce area. Now that the site is selected, the NWMO estimates that regulatory approval of the repository will be completed by 2032. Once approved, the organization will commence with an estimated 10-year construction project, with operations expected to begin in the early 2040s. Canada’s projected inventory of spent nuclear fuel (with no new reactors) is 5.5 million bundles of CANDU fuel, or approximately 106,100 MTHM.


What about the U.S.? When the license application for construction of a repository at Yucca Mountain was submitted in 2008, it was the first license application in the world for geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Now, over a decade has passed since work toward a repository at Yucca Mountain was stopped. Comprehensive nuclear waste policy reforms, such as the Nuclear Waste Administration Act, continue to be proposed, but none have yet made it through Congress. To reboot an active program toward permanent disposal in the United States, lawmakers must act.

There is reason to think that developing a deep geologic repository in the U.S. is within reach. Unlike some of the countries discussed above, the United States holds a wide variety of geologies suitable for deep geologic disposal. The Department of Energy fields a robust disposal research program. Many voices, including the Reset Initiative, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Energy Communities Alliance, and the National Academy of Sciences, have repeatedly recognized the need for a repository. The American Nuclear Society is among them, having recently published recommendations for updating the generic safety standards for a repository.

Broad-based interest in development and deployment of advanced reactors offers the opportunity to engage in dialogue about long-term management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Lessons learned from DOE’s past siting activities can be applied to develop an effective approach for a renewed repository siting process.

While every repository development program has faced technical, societal, and political challenges, progress around the world toward permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste is encouraging. The United States has a wealth of favorable geologies and a wealth of experience—it can be on the forefront of repository development again.

Further reading

More about each of these programs and deep geologic repositories can be found on these websites:


Emily Stein is a manager at Sandia National Laboratories.

The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.


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