Reasons why Olkiluoto 3 is so significant

The number of megawatts is significant in itself. No matter where you look at it, 1,600 megawatts provide a vast amount of energy. Having started up, the third reactor in Olkiluoto covers approximately 14% of all the electricity produced in Finland.

When we add the plant units Olkiluoto 1 and Olkiluoto 2, which have been faithfully operating at high capacity factors for more than 40 years, the smallish island on the western coast of Finland now produces as much as 30% of all the electricity in Finland.

And, if and when we include the production of the two plant units in Loviisa in the equation, 40% of all electricity in Finland will be generated with nuclear power. This is a significant figure even on a global scale.

Suddenly, there was war

The changing global situation has certainly done nothing to reduce the significance of OL3. Last year, the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered an overhaul of the European energy flows and markets. Fear of a cold winter in Europe was higher than it had been in a long time. Of course, each one of us has felt this in their electricity bill. In late 2022 and early 2023, at least, many electric saunas were left cold. That, more than anything, meant that the situation in Finland was serious.

On the other hand, considering all of Europe, we in the Nordic countries have had it relatively easy with the energy crisis. It is a fact that Finland had the second cheapest market price for electricity last year, with Sweden being the cheapest.

Of course, there are many things contributing to this besides nuclear power, but the significance of nuclear energy should not be belittled, either. Without Olkiluoto’s production, Finland would be a much darker and colder place – not to mention the impacts on the industry and economy.

An environmental act like no other

Olkiluoto 3 is also a major step towards eco-friendly energy production. With OL3, energy production will generate 11 million tonnes less carbon dioxide emissions than using coal-fired power plants to produce the same amount of energy. This is more than the combined CO2 emissions of all the traffic in Finland in a year.

The new plant will also give green transition a major push forward. More than 90% of electricity produced in Finland is now emissions-free. Therefore, the phrase “Finland’s greatest climate act” that TVO uses for OL3 is by no means an exaggeration. The environment is absolutely one of the beneficiaries here.

The green transition seems to be on firm footing in Finland. We had at least a taste of the future on 18 March, the same week that OL3 was able to resume test operation. On that day, electricity was cheaper in Finland than anywhere in Europe. This was last the case almost exactly a decade ago. And, since we know that more wind power is being constructed in the coming years, Finland’s energy future now looks fairly bright.

Also answers the needs of investors

For Northern Europe, reasonably priced energy has been an essential competitive advantage for a longer time already. It remains a very welcome ace in the hole, since there is little we can do about geography. In the future, we will continue to be far away from the population centres and markets of the continent.

However, reasonably priced, stable and predictable energy production might well be the deciding factor for making future investments in the Nordics. And nuclear power itself is basically custom-made to meet all the listed criteria.

On Fingrid’s very popular page “State of the power system”, nuclear power is by far the “most boring” conventional form of electricity generation to look at, as normally the diagram will just be one straight line, hour after hour. In this case, boring is good, as it is the best possible guarantee of a low and predictable price.

Quite a change in attitudes

The commercial commissioning of OL3 is important for Finland and for the entire nuclear power industry as well. After a long quiet period, OL3 is the first new reactor in Europe. When the decision to construct a third reactor at Olkiluoto was made in the early 2000s, attitudes towards nuclear power were much more critical, in Finland as well as abroad.

Everyone reading the news from the energy industry must be aware of the change in attitudes. Recently, the nuclear power industry has had quite a renaissance. Several countries have made decisions to extend the service life of their existing plant units, and some countries are even building and designing entirely new ones.

Here in Finland, a survey on attitudes towards energy shows that the support for nuclear power is historically high at the moment. According to the survey, the overall support for nuclear power is as high as 83%, with an impressive 65% of Finns wanting to increase the amount of nuclear power and 18% considering that the current amount is appropriate. Only 11% of the respondents would reduce the use of nuclear power. That’s basically all we need to say about nuclear power supposedly becoming obsolete.

Text: Ville Kulmala
Photo: Tapani Karjanlahti