Into Eternity

Deep inside Finland’s rocky surface, a gigantic and impenetrable repository is being constructed. In Onkalo, literally “cavern,” radioactive refuse from Finnish nuclear reactors is going to be stored for at least 100,000 years, until it is no longer hazardous to human life. It’s the world’s first final repository for long lived and high-level radioactive waste; a project of unprecedented proportions, which begun in the 20th century and will remain in operation until the year 2100, when the disposal facility will be decommissioned and sealed.

Director Michael Madsen structures his film as a letter to future generations, focusing primarily on the philosophical and existential questions Onkalo evokes. Because how can a civilization that has only existed for a few thousand years have any hope of knowing what the world will be like in 100,000 years? How are we to ensure that the bunker remains undisturbed in the far future, when current languages, cultures and perhaps even life forms have disappeared? A series of interludes transform the story into a mythic tale about the transitory nature of human ingenuity.