Posted on 04/15/2023 8:26:05 AM PDT by dennisw
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's much-delayed Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear reactor, Europe's largest, will begin regular output on Sunday, its operator said on Saturday, boosting energy security in a region to which Russia has cut gas and power supplies.
Nuclear power remains controversial in Europe, primarily due to safety concerns, and news of OL3's start-up comes as Germany on Saturday switches off its last three remaining reactors, while Sweden, France, Britain and others plan new developments.
OL3's operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), which is owned by Finnish utility Fortum and a consortium of energy and industrial companies, has said the unit is expected to meet around 14% of Finland's electricity demand, reducing the need for imports from Sweden and Norway.
Construction of the 1.6 gigawatt (GW) reactor, Finland's first new nuclear plant in more than four decades and Europe's first in 16 years, began in 2005. The plant was originally due to open four years later, but was plagued by technical issues.
OL3 first supplied test production to Finland's national power grid in March last year and was expected at the time to begin regular output four months later, but instead suffered a string of breakdowns and outages that took months to fix.
As a result of the startup, analysts have said Finland, the only Nordic country with a large power deficit, can expect lower electricity costs.
Russia's power exports to Finland ended last May when Russian utility Inter RAO said it had not been paid for the energy it sold, a consequence of the widening gulf between Moscow and Europe over the war in Ukraine.
Russian state export monopoly Gazprom shortly after ended shipments of natural gas to the Nordic nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Where will they obtain the fuel? I suppose not Russia anymore. Btw, the US neither.
I would like to see someone study how many deaths have been caused by not embracing nuclear energy 60 years ago.
Not just from the blue-collar workers getting the energy out of mines and the ground and such but also the estimated deaths from too high-priced energy among populations from winter cold and summer heat.
More people died in Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile than died at Three Mile Island.
Alec Baldwin killed more people than died at Three Mile Island.
The reactor takes up far less space then solar or windmills and provides more power and runs 24/7 at full power.
The uranium for Olkiluoto is primarily mined in Canada, Kazakhstan and Australia and manufactured into fuel assemblies in Germany, Sweden and Spain.
I remember while living 40 or 50 miles south of Three Mile Island spending a few days worrying about what might happen. I went out and got Iodine tablets to reduce danger of radioactive damage to my thyroid.
Does anyone know if this new Finish reactor is close to or far from populated areas? Finland does have vast areas of nearly uninhabited forest, so building away from people could be planned.
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