Finnish Nuke Power Plant Boosts Energy Sufficiency

Finland’s much-delayed and costly new nuclear reactor, Europe’s most powerful by production capacity, has completed a test phase lasting more than a year and started regular output, boosting the Nordic country’s electricity self-sufficiency significantly, Jari Tanner reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The Olkiluoto 3 is Western Europe’s first new reactor in more than 15 years.

The Olkiluoto 3 reactor, which has a 1,600-megawatt capacity and cost 11 billion euros ($12 billion), was connected into the Finnish national power grid in March 2022 and kicked off regular production.

Operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) tweeted that “Olkiluoto 3 is now ready” after a delay of 14 years from the original plan.

It will help Finland to achieve its carbon neutrality targets and increase energy security at a time when European countries have cut oil, gas, and other power supplies from Russia, Finland’s neighbor.

“The production of Olkiluoto 3 stabilizes the price of electricity and plays an important role in the Finnish green transition,” TVO President and CEO Jarmo Tanhua said.

The company added that “the electricity production volume of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant unit is a significant addition to clean, domestic production.”

Construction of Olkiluoto 3 began in 2005 and was due to be completed four years later but the project was plagued by technological problems that led to lawsuits. The last time a nuclear reactor was commissioned in Finland was more than four decades ago.

The Olkiluoto 3 is Western Europe’s first new reactor in more than 15 years. It is the first new-generation European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) plant to have gone online in Europe. It was developed in a joint venture between France’s Areva and Germany’s Siemens.

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