Into Eternity (documentary)
Encyclopedia
Into Eternity is a feature documentary film
directed by Danish director Michael Madsen, released in 2010. It follows the construction of the Onkalo Waste Repository at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant on the island of Olkiluoto, Finland
. Director Michael Madsen questions Onkalo's intended eternal existence, addressing an audience in the remote future.
Into Eternity raises the question of the authorities' responsibility of ensuring compliance with relatively new safety criteria legislation and the principles at the core of nuclear waste management.
When shown on the British More4
digital television channel on 26 April 2011, the name Nuclear Eternity was used.
for nuclear waste. The concept of long-term underground storage for radioactive waste has been explored since the 1950s. The inner part of the Russian doll
-like storage canisters is to be composed of copper
. Hence in the case of Onkalo it is tightly linked to experiments on copper corrosion in running groundwater
flow.
Application for the implementation of spent nuclear fuel
repository was submitted by Posiva Oy in 2001. The excavation itself started in 2004. With a total of four operable reactors providing 25% of the country's energy supply, Finland
ranks 16th in the world nuclear power reactors country list topped by the United States
(104 reactors), France
(58 reactors) and Japan
(54 reactors).
"Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste
created by nuclear power
plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disaster
s, man-made disasters
, and societal changes. In Finland, the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnel
s – that must last the entire period the waste remains hazardous
: 100,000 years."
Once the repository waste has been deposited and is full, the facility is to be sealed off and never opened again. Or so we hope, but can we ensure that? And how is it possible to warn our descendants of the deadly waste we left behind? How do we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Which languages and signs will they understand? And if they understand, will they respect our instructions?
Experts above ground strive to find solutions to this crucially important radioactive waste issue to secure mankind and all species on planet Earth now and in the near and very distant future."
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Danish director Michael Madsen, released in 2010. It follows the construction of the Onkalo Waste Repository at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant on the island of Olkiluoto, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. Director Michael Madsen questions Onkalo's intended eternal existence, addressing an audience in the remote future.
Into Eternity raises the question of the authorities' responsibility of ensuring compliance with relatively new safety criteria legislation and the principles at the core of nuclear waste management.
When shown on the British More4
More4
More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...
digital television channel on 26 April 2011, the name Nuclear Eternity was used.
Background
Into Eternity is a documentary about a deep geological repositoryDeep geological repository
A deep geological repository is a nuclear waste repository excavated deep within a stable geologic environment...
for nuclear waste. The concept of long-term underground storage for radioactive waste has been explored since the 1950s. The inner part of the Russian doll
Matryoshka doll
A matryoshka doll is a Russian nesting doll which is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo...
-like storage canisters is to be composed of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
. Hence in the case of Onkalo it is tightly linked to experiments on copper corrosion in running groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
flow.
Application for the implementation of spent nuclear fuel
Spent nuclear fuel
Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor...
repository was submitted by Posiva Oy in 2001. The excavation itself started in 2004. With a total of four operable reactors providing 25% of the country's energy supply, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
ranks 16th in the world nuclear power reactors country list topped by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(104 reactors), France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(58 reactors) and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(54 reactors).
Synopsis
This film explores the question of preparing the site so that it is not disturbed for 100,000 years, even though no structure in human history has stayed standing for such a long period of time."Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
created by nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s, man-made disasters
Man-made disasters
Man-made disasters are disasters resulting from man-made hazards , as opposed to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards...
, and societal changes. In Finland, the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
s – that must last the entire period the waste remains hazardous
Hazardous waste
A hazardous waste is waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. According to the U.S. environmental laws hazardous wastes fall into two major categories: characteristic wastes and listed wastes.Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known...
: 100,000 years."
Once the repository waste has been deposited and is full, the facility is to be sealed off and never opened again. Or so we hope, but can we ensure that? And how is it possible to warn our descendants of the deadly waste we left behind? How do we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Which languages and signs will they understand? And if they understand, will they respect our instructions?
Experts above ground strive to find solutions to this crucially important radioactive waste issue to secure mankind and all species on planet Earth now and in the near and very distant future."
External links
- Nuclear Energy Act, 1987
- Official website
- BBC News - Finland buries its nuclear past, 27/04/2006
- Posiva's presentation of Onkalo
- http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=4732 Dr. Helen Caldicott interview director of the film]
- http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/film/2011/03/18/environmental-film-festival-into-eternity-reviewed/ Review in Washington City PaperWashington City PaperThe Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Founded in 1981, and published for its first year under the masthead 1981, taking the City Paper name in volume 2, by Russ Smith, it shared ownership with the Chicago Reader from 1982...
- http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/movies/02into.html Review in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...