Circular economy
A transition towards a circular economy is necessary to ensure the availability of natural resources and to combat climate change. Fortum applies waste hierarchy principles in all operations, including prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, energy recovery, and responsible disposal. Fortum produces conventional non-hazardous and hazardous waste in its power plants and other own operations. In addition to conventional industrial waste, radioactive waste is also produced at the Loviisa nuclear power plant in Finland, as well as in co-owned nuclear power plants Olkiluoto in Finland, and Forsmark and Oskarshamn in Sweden.
Conventional waste management
Improving the management of conventional waste is done in close cooperation with local waste management partners.
The greatest volume of waste produced by Fortum’s power plants is ash produced in the combustion of solid fuels. Ash is the non-combustible residue of the fuel, containing mainly minerals and metals.
Fortum's Battery recycling business uses a combination of mechanical and hydrometallurgical technologies to recycle battery materials. The recovered battery chemicals – lithium, cobalt, manganese and nickel – can be used by battery manufacturers in the production of new batteries. It is possible to recycle over 80% of the battery and 95% of the valuable metals contained in the battery black mass.
Radioactive waste management
Waste management at the Loviisa power plant is comprised of two separate areas: waste management for the non-controlled area and waste management for the controlled area. All waste generated in the controlled area is treated as radioactive.
Waste generated in the controlled area is divided into three categories: low-level waste (maintenance waste), intermediate-level waste (mainly liquid waste and small amounts of dry waste, such as filters and probes), and high-level waste (spent fuel). Maintenance waste is either cleared as non-active and treated as conventional waste or disposed of in the final repository located at a depth of 110 metres in the power plant area.
Liquid waste is purified and released into the sea or stored and solidified in concrete and then disposed of in the final repository.
Highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel is stored to await final disposal. Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima Oyj have established Posiva Oy to handle the technical implementation of the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Final disposal in the world’s first-ever deep geological repository for spent fuel is scheduled to begin at Olkiluoto in Eurajoki, Finland, in the mid-2020s. The final disposal of spent nuclear fuel from Loviisa will begin in the 2030s and from Olkiluoto in the 2020s.