Uranium trade

Uranium is a very energy-intensive fuel. Fuel costs account for only a small amount of the production costs of nuclear electricity, about 15%. Fluctuations in the price of fuel affect nuclear electricity production costs much less than, for example, in the case of electricity produced using gas or carbon.

Most of the production costs of nuclear electricity comprise the investment cost, which in a new unit is 60%, decreasing gradually over the years. The operating costs in a new unit constitute 15% of the production costs of electricity, and waste management costs account for about 10%.

The world´s biggest uranium producer is Canada, which produces about 30% of the entire output. Australia accounts for more than 20%. Other major producers are certain countries in Africa and Central Asia.

TVO has always acquired a sizeable portion of the uranium it needs through long-term contracts with Canadian and Australian producers. Mining operations in Canada and Australia are carefully regulated, and the opening up of mines requires a broad-based EIA procedure and political approval. TVO also acquires recycled uranium, i.e. uranium concentrated from old enrichment waste. The amount of fuel needed by the two Olkiluoto units in one year totals about 40 tonnes of enriched uranium, an amount that could fit into seven lorries. The fuel for Olkiluoto 1 and Olkiluoto 2 is supplied by Genusa from Spain and by Westinghouse Electric Sweden from Sweden. The fuel supplier for the Olkiluoto 3 unit will be Areva. TVO follows and supervises the management of environmental matters by all its fuel suppliers.

All activity relating to the production of nuclear energy is subject to a permit or licence in Finland, including the transportation of uranium fuel. According to the Nuclear Energy Act, a licence granted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry is required for the import, possession and use of nuclear fuel. The production, transportation, storage, processing and use of nuclear fuel are supervised by the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK).

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also supervises nuclear fuels through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its supplementary protocol. This supervising focuses on the entire nuclear fuel cycle. In EU circles, practical supervising is these days the responsibility of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). In order to corroborate reported information on nuclear fuel, checks are carried out on fresh and spent fuel. In addition, the IAEA and EURATOM have set up sealed video cameras in reactor halls of nuclear power plants, the aim being to reveal any unreported transfers of nuclear fuels.