News
Publish date: September 12, 2007
Written by: Birthe Weijola
News
Elfi director Antti Koskelainen is quoted saying that the cost of the delay is comparable to the investment cost for the whole reactor.
The estimate is based on a report from the Finnish State Technical Research Institute (VTT), showing that a 1000 MW electricity cable from Leningrad NPP to Finland would cut the price of electricity in the Nordic countries by 6 percent by year 2011. The 1,600 megawatt Olkiluoto reactor would cut electricity prices even more, saving Nordic electricity consumers EUR 1.2 billion year.
The start-up date of the Olkiluoto 3 reactor has been delayed by two and a half years beyond its original start-update of 2009. The current estimate is that it will be finalized by 2011.
According to Martti Kätkä, the director of Finnish Technology Industries, also quoted in Kauppalehti, the delay of the reactor will additionally cost up to EUR 500m in carbon credits for the energy companies who are shareholders in Olkiluoto 3, who will have to rely on more coal power until the new reactor can be taken into use.
The reactor that is currently under construction at Olkiluoto NPP is the first European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) in the world. It was ordered by the Finnish energy company Teollisuuden Voima Oy from Areva, a French-German Consortium formed by Framatome ANP and Siemens.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.