  Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland | Credit: TVO
By Brenda Sorensen
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
STOCKHOLM (IDN) – The Nordic countries appear to be undergoing a renaissance of nuclear energy. Within three weeks of the Swedish parliament permitting new atomic power plants from 2011, neighbouring Finland's legislators have given the go-ahead for two new atomic reactors.
These will increase the share of nuclear power plants in Finland's energy supply from 30 percent to some 50 percent.
Finland's two nuclear reactors -- the country's sixth and seventh -- will be built by two local energy companies, TVO and Fennovoima. They will be in addition to four reactors, two on the island of Olkiluoto and two in the town of Loviisa, on the southern coast.
A fifth is under construction in Olkiluoto -- it missed its original deadline of 2009 because of rising costs -- and is expected to be connected to the electricity grid by 2013.
The parliamentarians voted in two separate votes -- 121 to 71 in favour of Fennovoima’s bid, and 120 to 72 supporting TVO’s offer -- on July 1, 2010. However, several legislators wanted to approve the construction of only one reactor. The Greens, part of the ruling coalition, voted against the construction of news plants but said they wanted to remain in the government, now led by Mari Kiviniemi.
The construction proposals had been put forward by liberal Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, who has resigned meanwhile.
The final approval "has put the new build ball into the utilities' court to complete their planning and agree on waste disposal", say analysts at the World Nuclear News (WNN), in an obvious reference to the parliament also voting 159 to 35 in favour of building a nuclear waste storage site in Eurajoki, in the west of the country.
Both Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) and Fennovoima said they were "very pleased" with the result, adding that their plans would benefit Finland as a whole. They may now select a reactor supplier and begin the year-long process with the government to obtain a construction licence.
For Fennovoima, this will depend on resolving issues regarding a disposal route for used fuel, while July 1 parliamentary approvals also allowed an expansion of waste plans to accommodate TVO's new reactor.
Fennovoima said it would "proceed rapidly and effectively" to pick a site in 2011 -- either Phyhäjoki in North Ostrobothnia or Simo in Lapland -- and begin excavations in 2012. By 2014 it hopes to have a construction licence and begin to build the actual power plant. It wants to generate nuclear electricity "no later than 2020".
TVO meanwhile is busy working on the Areva EPR under construction at Olkiluoto and did not give any dates for its next reactor. It wants to build again at Olkiluoto and it has specified that the project would represent only a single large light-water reactor of 1400-1700 MWe capacity at one of two locations at the site.
According to WNN analysts, the decisions in principle give TVO and Fennovoima five years to apply for their construction permits.
NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL
The parliament's move on waste gave Posiva Oy, an expert organisation responsible for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel, permission to expand the size of its permanent disposal facility proposed for land alongside Olkiluoto.
Posiva is owned by current nuclear operators TVO and Fortum and has the responsibility to manage their used nuclear fuel. It is already developing the Onkalo rock laboratory, which will be expanded into the final repository should geologic formations live up to expectations. That project reached its final depth of 420 metres in June 2010.
WNN analysts said Posiva's expansion will allow it space to manage TVO's used fuel, but because of its ownership the company was not able to apply to manage Fennovoima's as well. This impasse will have to be resolved before Fennovoima can get a construction licence, which means agreeing with rivals TVO and Fortum on a way to 'buy into' Posiva's existing program.
Fennovoima noted: "The parliament requires that the government contributes to starting assessment and negotiations during 2010 between Posiva, Posiva's owners and Fennovoima regarding the final disposal of used nuclear fuel. Fennovoima is prepared to act in accordance with the will of parliament."
CONSUMPTION
Finland generates about 82 billion kWh (kilowatt-hour) per year and has very high per capita electricity consumption amounting to some 16,000 kWh per head per year. While some of it comes from nuclear (22.6 billion kWh, 27.8 percent in 2009) and hydro (12.6 terawatt-hour with the acronym TWh, 15.5 percent in 2009), much of it is either imported (12.4 TWh, 15.3 percent net in 2009) or generated from imported fuels (mostly coal and some gas).
Coal is imported from Russia and Poland, all of its gas comes from Russia, and 14 percent of 2009 electricity was from Russia.
The country is part of the deregulated Nordic electricity system which faces shortages, especially in any dry years, when hydroelectric generation is curtailed.
OPERATING NUCLEAR REACTORS
A WNN dossier points out that Finland's four existing reactors (about 2700 MWe or megawatt electricity net total) are among the world's most efficient, with an average lifetime average capacity factor of over 85 percent.
Two boiling water reactors supplied by the Swedish company Asea Atom are operated by Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO); and two modified Russian pressurized water reactors (VVER) with Western containment and control systems are operated by Fortum Corporation.
Finnish reactors are stated to be remarkable to the extent to which they have been uprated since they were built. TVO's Olkiluoto 1 & 2 started up in 1978-80 at 658 MWe net (690 MWe gross); 30 years later, they were rated at 860 MWe net each (30 percent more) and their lifetime had been extended to 60 years, subject to safety evaluation every decade.
TVO now proposes progressively to uprate them further to 1000 MWe each. A 25 MWe uprate of Olkiluoto 1 over May-June 2010 was part of this, and involved replacement of low-pressure turbines. A similar uprate of unit 2 is planned in 2011.
Fortum's two VVER-440 reactors at Loviisa have been uprated from 445 net (465 MWe gross) in 1977-80 to 488 MWe net (510 MWe gross). They have an expected operating lifetime of 50 years, though were originally designed for only 30.
A 20-year licence extension was granted by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) in mid-2007, taking them to 2027 and 2030, subject to safety evaluation in 2015 and 2023. In 2008, Areva commenced a six-year renewal project to install modern digital instrumentation and controls systems at the plant. (IDN-InDepthNews/06.07.2010)
Copyright © 2010 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
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