Talvivaara's plans to produce by-product uranium in Finland have taken a step nearer to licensing with the release of a positive opinion on the uranium recovery process from the European Commission, while Finnish regulators have found the radiation risks from the operation to be low.

August 2014 is the date that Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) expects to see power flow from its new reactor, Olkiluoto 3, according to a single-line statement issued on 21 December. The announcement brought a little more clarity to the unit's schedule compared with TVO's last announcement, which specified only the year 2014. The Finnish utility said it had been informed by the Areva-Siemens consortium building the unit that August 2014 was scheduled for commercial operation. Construction started in May 2005.

Tournigan Energy is acquiring uranium assets in Sweden and Finland, has forged an alliance to advance work on its Slovakian interests and announced a name change.

Finnish utility Fortum will participate in the financing of the bidding and engineering phase of the proposed fourth unit at Olkiluoto.

Stress tests at Finland's nuclear power plants show that no major modifications are needed, utilities Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) have told the Finnish nuclear regulator.

The municipality of Pyhäjoki on Finland's western coast has been selected by Fennovoima as the site of the country's third nuclear power plant. Site preparations for the plant could start by the end of 2012.

The majority of Finns support the continued use of nuclear energy in the country, a poll on attitudes to energy policy shows. The poll is the latest in a series that has been conducted annually since 1983.