Into eternity

Curator’s note:

In the north of Finland, efforts are underway to construct the world’s first permanent repository of nuclear waste — designed to last for the next 100,000 years.

The film Into Eternity explores the moral, political and logistical complexities involved in laying dormant all of Finland’s radioactive material with candid interviews with Onkalo’s technical experts. But as the filmmaker himself warns:

I am now in this place where you should never come. We call it Onkalo. Onkalo means ‘hiding place’. In my time it is still unfinished though work began in the 20th century when I was just a child. Work would be completed in the 22nd century long after my death. Onkalo must last one hundred thousand years. Nothing built by man has lasted even a tenth of that time span. But we consider ourselves a very potent civilization. If we succeed, Onkalo will most likely be the longest lasting remains of our civilization. If you, sometime far into the future, find this, what will it tell you about us?

For those interested, it’s well worth checking out the background information on the film’s website.