(569.5409) WISE Amsterdam - Finland currently has two nuclear power stations, one (Olkiluoto) with two BWRs of Swedish design, and one (Loviisa) with two Russian VVERs, making it the only European country with Soviet-designed reactors which was never part of the Soviet Bloc. The unique situation is a legacy of Finland's unique position during the Cold War, when it attempted to remain neutral but kept finding it hard to escape domination by its Russian neighbor.
Fears of Russian domination played an important role in the decision to build a fifth reactor. Finland currently imports more than 70% of its energy supplies, mostly from Russia, and in an opinion poll conducted three weeks before the vote, 58% of respondents said that it was better to expand nuclear power than import electricity from Russia.
Another important factor is climate change. Building a fifth nuclear reactor is part of the industry ministry's strategy to meet the country's Kyoto Protocol obligations, though the ministry said that "nuclear power alone is not sufficient to restrain greenhouse gas emissions."
Last year's decision to build a final repository for high-level nuclear waste probably also played an important role (see WISE News Communique 549, "In brief"). By giving the illusion that the waste problem is "solved", this decision undermines one of the main objections to nuclear power. The reality is somewhat different: besides all the usual arguments against underground disposal of nuclear waste, in Finland's case a rock characterization facility to decide if the site is really suitable will not be built until 2003. Even if this were positive, it would not be until 2020 that high-level nuclear waste could be stored there. Despite all this, the parliamentary vote on the fifth nuclear reactor was accompanied by a separate decision-in-principle to make the planned repository larger in order to accommodate the irradiated fuel from a fifth reactor.
Greens resign
The decision caused the Greens to resign from the government, in which Satu Hassi had been Environment Minister. Back in 1999 when the government coalition was being formed, the WISE News Communique carried an article from Ms. Hassi (see WISE News Communique 508.4995, "Finland after the parliamentary elections"). In it, she wrote: "The Greens have stated that they are not going to participate in a government which takes building more nuclear power stations into its program".
On the climate question, the Greens commented:
"It is a total illusion to assume that the climate problem could be solved with nuclear power. If nuclear energy use were to be doubled from the current 7% in the world during the next 25 years, one new nuclear plant would have to be built every week. This would of course produce equally immense safety risks and nuclear waste problems."
Plans for the fifth reactor
The plans themselves are still at an early stage. The utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO), which intends to build the new reactor, has not yet decided which of the two existing nuclear power station sites will be chosen for the reactor. After choosing a site, TVO is expected to launch a competitive bidding process for building the new reactor, which must be either a BWR or a PWR. Various reactor builders have already expressed an interest, including BNFL Westinghouse, Framatome ANP and Russia's Minatom.
However, it will not all be plain sailing. Standard & Poor's have already revised TVO's credit rating outlook from "stable" to "negative" after the decision to build the new reactor was announced. This "reflects the increased business and financial risk that would likely result if TVO decides to proceed" with building the reactor, according to Standard & Poor's credit analyst Andreas Zsiga. TVO plans to raise most of the construction cost of the new reactor from international money markets, for which a good credit rating is crucial.
Sources:
- Reuters, 20 May 2002
- ENS, 27 May 2002
- NucNet, 24 May 2002
- Standard & Poor's, 27 May 2002
Contact: WISE Amsterdam
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