Last year was historical for nuclear power in Finland – and a big thank you for this goes to a large group of nuclear professionals

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Despite the record figures, for us in Olkiluoto safety is always in the centre of everything we do. Upholding nuclear safety means proactiveness, transparency, responsibility, and continuous improvement.

All in all, 32,76 terawatt-hours of energy was produced with nuclear power in Finland in 2023.
The lion’s share of this electricity was produced here in Olkiluoto: 24,67 TWh. We also reached our own new production record with flying colours. But then, that was to be expected now that we are operating three plant units for the first time.

Team work is the key to success

And although the plant units, and especially OL3, have attracted a lot of media attention, it must not be forgotten that the production plant alone, without skilled people, will not produce a single kilowatt.

The past year, with its successes and challenges, has required not only strong professionalism but also commitment and flexibility from all of us here in Olkiluoto. As an organisation, TVO can proudly boast all of these characteristics.

It was in no way a given that last year would prove to be as good in terms of production as it ended up being. There have been a multitude of challenges and problems to resolve, but we have overcome also them, whether they were related to operating or maintenance activities or any other areas of responsibility of our organisation, in good cooperation with our stakeholders.

Witnessing how we have supported and helped each other with these trying situations has been a particular privilege. It has been and will continue to be our key strength.

Media bias

Following only the media (let alone social media), one will unquestionably get a very biased idea of what has been accomplished in Olkiluoto.

The news world appears to live by a news logic, which means that as far as news are concerned, anything negative is almost always better than something positive. For something to operate as expected and without problems is actually even anti-news. It is impossible to come up with a catching headline or poster about that. The situation is completely different when something exceptional occurs.

For OL3, this became crystal clear in concrete in November, when the OL3 plant unit was disconnected from the grid twice. A bad thing, but a great piece of news. Exactly the kind of news that will spread like wildfire also on social media.

What many seemed to forget, however, was that in fact, the plant had been in operation without any technical glitches for no less than about eight months before November.

As we told in our news release yesterday, since the start of regular electricity production, OL3 has been in production for 6155 hours and only 84 hours out of production.

In other words, I can still repeat the comment I made to the Talouselämä Magazine in the spring about OL3 operating awfully well.

Embracing the new year

And since we only have (still less than) one whole production year behind us, we know we can count on the plant quite a lot in the future. This is because in the nuclear industry, operating experience and continuous improvement play a very central part. We can give two practical examples of this right here in Olkiluoto; OL1 and OL2.

We have more than 40 years of experience with both of them and already for years, operational disruptions have been really rare, with the plants being among the very top in the world. The statistics show that this was the case also last year.

There is nothing to stop us from achieving similar figures with also OL3 in the coming years, as we are now gaining the valuable operating experience here in Olkiluoto with OL3 as well, every single day. So, I would say we are starting 2024 from an excellent position.

And the thanks for this go to all my colleagues here in Olkiluoto, as well as also more widely to all our stakeholders. The nuclear sector is absolutely a team sport instead of an individual game. We need to be humble in everything we do. Producing nuclear power is a unique industry and requires a lot of work. We are on this journey in the spirit of continuous improvement and the road to this new year is also a great one.

Teksti: Marjo Mustonen
Kuva: Tapani Karjanlahti