Finnish companies unite to build nuclear plant
06 June 2007
A consortium of Finnish industrial and energy companies will establish a joint venture company, to be known as Fennovoima Oy, to construct a new nuclear power plant in Finland.
The group consists of stainless steel producer Outokumpu, mining and smelting company Boliden, energy utilities Rauman Energia and Katterno Group, and electricity supplier EOn Suomi (the Finnish subsidiary of Germany-based EOn).
Fennovoima aims to construct a new 1000-1800 MWe nuclear power plant, to start operating between 2016 and 2018. It will provide electricity for its owners at production cost, with each partner getting a share of output in proportion to its share of ownership in Fennovoima. One-third of generating capacity will be reserved for Finnish industrial, manufacturing and service companies, one-third will be for regional and local energy companies, and one-third will be for EOn Suomi.
About half of the capacity will be offered to companies currently not partners in the Fennovoima project. The consortium said that it has started talks with companies needing long-term procurement of stable-priced power.
Fennovoima will immediately start studies on the construction of the new nuclear power plant. Apart from site selection, these include safety, technological, and nuclear waste management issues. Suitable site locations have been identified in various parts of Finland. After suitable sites have - together with the respective municipalities - been guaranteed, Fennovoima will complete environmental impact assessments (EIAs). The project is ultimately dependent on the approval of the Finnish government and parliament.
Outokumpu's CEO, Juha Rantanen, said: "By participating in Fennovoima, Outokumpu aims to secure a significant portion of its electricity needs in the years to come. In investing in our own energy production we can have a reliable electricity supply at production cost. Our aim is to have up to 150 MWe of the new nuclear power plant's capacity. This translates into some 1.2 TWh of electrical energy per annum which is more than half of what the Tornio Works currently requires." Outokumpu's Tornio stainless steel plant currently consumes some 2.1 TWh of electricity per year.
"Boliden's objective, through this project, is to secure long-term electricity supplies for our Finnish smelters. If we are to maintain competitive production, electricity is a raw material of strategic significance. Energy currently accounts for 18% of Boliden's total costs and our energy requirement is 3.5 TWh," said Boliden's president & CEO, Jan Johansson. Boliden's proposed share corresponds to 80 MW, or approximately 46% of the energy consumed at the company's Finnish units - the Kokkola zinc smelter and the Harjavalta copper smelter.
At the beginning of June, Fortum launched an EIA for a third reactor at the Loviisa nuclear power plant. The EIA will consider the construction of a new 1000-1800 MWe plant at the site. The previous week, Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) submitted its EIA program for a fourth reactor at the Olkiluoto plant. TVO's EIA will also consider the construction of a 1000-1800 MWe unit at the site.
In May, the city council of Loviisa voted 16-11 against a preliminary agreement to sell land to EOn, on which the German utility had proposed to construct a nuclear power plant. In mid-April, the City Board gave initial approval to sell 112 hectares of land located north of the existing two-unit plant owned by Fortum to EOn for Eur6.5 million ($8.8 million).
Further information
Boliden
EOn Suomi
Katterno
Outokumpu
Rauman Energia
WNA's Nuclear Energy in Finland information paper
WNN: Fortum launches Loviisa 3 EIA process
WNN: TVO submits EIA program for Olkiluoto 4
WNN: Loviisa says 'no' to EOn nuclear plant