Environment

The harmful environmental impact of nuclear power is minimal. A nuclear power plant generates only a negligible amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and no acidifying emissions.

The single greatest environmental impact of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant is caused by the heat conveyed into the sea with the coolant. Studies on how to use this heat have been conducted at Olkiluoto for a long time. TVO is investigating the potential for using the warm water to aid in wine cultivation and in growing signal crayfish and Siberian sturgeon.

The levels of fission and activation products discharged into the sea from the power plant are fractions of one per cent of the maximum permissible limits set by the authorities, and tritium discharges are about 10% of those limits.

The authorities set maximum permissible limits for radioactive emissions from nuclear power plants. TVO´s radioactive emissions into the air are at the most 1/1000 of the maximum permissible limits set by the authorities. Radiation doses are so small that they are obscured by variations in the natural background radiation. Nuclear power causes less than 0.1 per cent of the average annual radiation dose in Finland. The maximum permissible limits are defined so that a person living in the vicinity of the power plant can receive no more than 0.1 millisieverts per year. By comparison, exposure to natural background radiation in Finland results in an average radiation dose of 3.7 millisieverts per year.

Radiation levels around the power plant are measured continuously. No radioactive substances originating from the nuclear power plant have been observed in measurements on people living in the immediate vicinity.

Supervision by the authorities