Crisis forces Finland to go in for nuclear power

HELSINKI — Hours after Germany closed out its atomic era by turning off its last three nuclear reactors, the largest single reactor in Europe entered regular production in Finland, its operator said on Sunday.

The Olkiluoto 3 reactor, which has 1,600-megawatt capacity, was connected into the Finnish national power grid in March last year and kicked off regular production on Sunday. Operator Teollisuuden Voima, or TVO, tweeted that "Olkiluoto 3 is now ready" after a delay of 14 years from the original plan.

"From now on, about 30 percent of Finnish electricity is produced in Olkiluoto," TVO 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".

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, their major supplier.

"The production of Olkiluoto 3 stabilizes the price of electricity and plays an important role in the Finnish green transition," said Jarmo Tanhua, president and chief executive of TVO.

Construction of Olkiluoto 3 began in 2005 and was due to be completed four years later. However, the project was plagued by several technological problems that led to lawsuits.

The Olkiluoto 3 is the first new-generation European Pressurized Reactor plant to have gone online in Europe. It was developed in a joint venture between France's Areva and Germany's Siemens.

Primarily because of safety concerns, nuclear power remains a controversial issue in Europe. The launch of the Finnish reactor coincides with Germany's move to shut down its last remaining three nuclear plants on Saturday.

Experts have put Olkiluoto 3's final price tag at about $12 billion — almost three times what was initially estimated. Finland now has five nuclear reactors in two power plants located on the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Agencies Via Xinhua