Ministry comments on Loviisa assessment

TheFinnish Ministry of Trade and Industry has released its comments onFortum Power's environmental impact assessment (EIA) program, submittedin advance of the actual EIA for a new nuclear reactor at the Loviisasite. The ministry took 16 weeks to evaluate the program, and commentsfrom other parties were accepted for 12 weeks including from Sweden,Norway, Germany and Estonia. Some 62 comments were received. Theconclusions reached by ministry officials were that the mainenvironmental impact from a new nuclear plant would be effects onseawater used for cooling. After that would come impacts fromimprovements to electricity transmission lines and traffic at the site.Fortum were told by the ministry to include in their full EIA a reviewof currently available nuclear power plant designs; an outline of thecost of the project; an analysis in terms of climate change andparticularly the effect of changes in sea level; and the impact of thenuclear fuel cycle in general and Forum's ability to influence this.The company will now prepare its full EIA for submission to theministry, which will be subject to a further round of public comment.The ministry said it expected the development of the EIA to take untilthe summer of 2008.