Finland’s Nuclear Plans Lure Political Visitors

he road to this island on Finland’s western coast winds through pristine fields and forests, an idyllic place for a cottage by the shore — if you ignore the heavy-duty power lines overhead.

The nuclear plant they lead to is at the frontier of European efforts to fight climate change while also meeting demand from Finland’s energy-hungry industry.
Alongside two existing reactors, industry-controlled utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) is building a third in a bid to meet European Union carbon dioxide reduction targets and feed a growing economy — a rare new nuclear project in largely nuclear-sceptical Western Europe.

In a little more than a decade there could be two to three new reactors, despite Environment Minister Paula Lehtomaki joining environmental groups in expressing alarm at what she sees as a growing acceptance of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly alternative to other forms of energy.

“We have become somewhat of a tourist attraction. High level (foreign) politicians are meeting me weekly, keen to hear how we are doing,” said Jukka Laaksonen, head of Finland’s nuclear watchdog STUK, overseeing the construction in Olkiluoto.

After an almost two-decade moratorium on building new reactors in much of Western Europe following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, political debate on reviving nuclear energy has renewed in countries such as Britain.

Finland is already a leading user of renewable energy, with almost a quarter of its output coming from sources like wood and some hydro and wind power.

Olkiluoto’s two existing 860 MW units and two more 488 MW blocs at utility Fortum’s Loviisa plant make up about a quarter of electricity used in Finland.

But with no domestic source of oil and a reliance on Russian natural gas, its options are limited for feeding demand from industry, plus 5.3 million people needing electricity and heating during the bitterly cold winters.

According to Energy Minister Mauri Pekkarinen, it is partly the EU’s new goal to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 that is pushing Finland to consider more nuclear power in addition to the Olkiluoto project.

“Finland would have to stop using coal and oil in electricity and heat production by 2020,” Pekkarinen told Reuters. “I do not believe this shortage could be taken care of with just bio-based energy.”

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