Finland has started regular electricity output at Europe’s largest nuclear reactor.
The long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 reactor is the first European nuclear-power facility to open in 16 years. Alongside two other nuclear reactors on the Olkiluoto island off Finland’s west coast, the new 1.6-gigawatt plant will eventually produce nearly one-third of the country’s electricity.
Production at the reactor began hours after Germany shut down its three remaining nuclear-power plants. Germany passed a law in 2002 to shut down its reactors as a result of public antinuclear protests after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Olkiluoto 3’s plant faced lengthy planning delays partly as a result of the construction of advanced safety features. It will supply electricity for at least 60 years.
‘The production of Olkiluoto 3 stabilizes the price of electricity and plays an important role in the Finnish green transition’, TVO’s Chief Executive Jarmo Tanhua said, adding that environmentally friendly electricity production is one of Finland’s ‘top trump cards’.
Finland’s nuclear energy, in combination with hydro and wind power, is part of its transition toward carbon neutrality. This has helped make Finland resilient to energy-supply disruptions.
Ville Tulkki, a nuclear scientist with the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, says ‘We have not been as reliant on Russian energy as other countries in, for example, Central Europe’.
Following its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow suspended electricity and natural-gas supplies to Finland, after the Nordic nation refused to pay for imports in rubles. At the time, power from Russia accounted for about 10% of Finland’s total consumption. Finland responded by investing $930 million to boost domestic energy production.
Public support for nuclear power has grown in Finland, with roughly 60% of Finns in favour of it. Finland’s Greens party has dropped its opposition to nuclear power.
[Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant#/media/File:OL3.jpg]