an independent federal agency that reviews energy department programs including yucca mountain but of equal importance has been the social accomplishmentmr aikas who was involved in the finnish site selection process beginning in the 1980s said he and his colleagues learned early lessons about the need to consult with local residentswe ran into difficulties because we tried to behave as industry did back then wed decide and announce he said invariably he said by presenting decisions as unreviewable they ran into local oppositionvery soon we learned that we had to be very open mr aikas added this openness and transparency creates trust when five sites were selected for further study in 1987 offices were opened in each community to provide informationthe approach proved so successful that when it came time for the national government to make a final decision on a repository in 2000 officials in eurajoki the municipality that includes olkiluoto island agreed to host it on one condition that posiva not present the government an option to choose any other siteimagecreditmiikka pirinen for the new york timeseurajoki officials had concerns early in the process mr aikas said but eventually came to see that the repository would provide property tax revenue and jobsthe municipality also had experience with nuclear power two of the countrys four operating nuclear power reactors are on olkiluoto less than two miles from the repository and a third plant is under construction nearbyyou have a community that is familiar with nuclear issues said dr ewing at stanfordnevada by contrast has no nuclear power plants what it does have is a history of government testing of atomic weapons both in the air and underground for four decades until the early 1990syou have to expect that a community with that experience will be a little skeptical dr ewing saidfinlands success also has its roots in an early decision by the national government in 1983 it established the principle that the companies creating the waste tvo which owns the reactors at olkiluoto and fortum power and heat which owns the other two are responsible for disposing of it the government had only approval and regulatory rolesit has always been important to resolve this spentfuel issue and keep it in the hands of the power company mr aikas said posiva the company developing the repository is a joint venture of the two utilitiesin the united states spent fuel became the responsibility of the federal government specifically the energy department subjecting the issue to more political pressuresat the onkalo site workers drill into the bedrock down near the 1400foot level taking cores to study the characteristics of the granite above ground near the curving entrance to the tunnel construction has begun on a building where the spent fuel currently cooling in pools at the olkiluoto reactors will be readied for burial handled by remotecontrolled machinery since radiation levels will be high spent fuel will also eventually be shipped here from fortums reactors on the countrys southeastern coastkimmo kemppainen research manager