Nuclear plant opens in Finland amid chaos in Ukraine

Against a backdrop of soaring fuel prices worldwide and growing concern about the extent and impact of the conflict in Ukraine, Europe's first new nuclear power plant in 15 years officially began operations in Finland over the weekend.

The Olkiluoto 3 facility has started test production for Finland's national grid and is expected to reach full capacity by the end of July. That will put it on course to meet 14 percent of the country's demand for electricity, allowing it to ease off imports from Norway, Sweden and Russia.

The power plant is on Finland's west coast and is the country's first new nuclear facility in more than four decades.

"OL3 significantly improves Finland's electricity self-sufficiency and helps in achieving carbon neutrality goals," said the operating company, Teollisuuden Voima, also known as TVO.

The reactor, built by the French-led consortium Areva-Siemens, was originally supposed to open in 2009, but the project was halted after technical problems led to legal disputes.

Though the power plant's combination of French and German technical expertise was supposed to offer higher safety standards and increased production power, the disputes involved technical issues that Finland's nuclear regulator attributed to poor management and workmanship.

According to the 2019 World Nuclear Industry Report, the project's initial estimated cost of 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) ended up being closer to 11 billion euros.

The compensation dispute between TVO and Areva was settled in March 2018.

"When Olkiluoto 3 reaches full output, around 90 percent of Finland's electricity generation will come from clean, low-carbon electricity sources, with nuclear generation supplying around half of that," said World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y Leon.

"We congratulate the staff of TVO, the Finnish regulator STUK and all the companies involved for this great achievement," she said.

The Ukraine conflict has increased the push in Europe to reduce dependence on fuel imports from Russia amid the uncertainty and economic consequences.

Around 40 percent of Europe's natural gas and more than one-fourth of its crude oil comes from Russia, and steps have already been taken to reduce dependence. For example, Germany, which gets around half of its coal and oil from Russia, has said it wants to end those imports by the end of the year.

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