Twelve years late, Finland is finally starting its EPR nuclear reactor. It is the first time in fifteen years that a nuclear reactor has started up in Europe. The Finnish electricity production company Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) announced – overnight – the commissioning of this state-of-the-art reactor. This is only the third EPR to enter service worldwide.
An EPR (Evolutionary Power Reactor), it is a third generation pressurized water nuclear reactor. The idea was born after the disaster of Chernobyl at the will of Areva and Siemens, two European companies. They had two objectives: the first was to design a safer reactor. The EPR is doubly protected. Inside, by a watertight structure of concrete and steel. And outside by a reinforced concrete dome. The second objective is to have a more efficient reactor, with an electricity production capacity significantly greater than that of a conventional reactor (1,650 MW against 1,450 MW for previous French or German reactors).
The third EPR
The Finnish EPR is the third to be put into service after the two reactors of the Taishan in China. It will be connected to the electricity grid in a few weeks. At the moment, it is only functioning at a third of its capacity. Electricity production is expected to reach a normal level in June 2022.
Soaring costs
This start comes twelve years late. The cause is construction and reliability problems. In the end, it costs nine billion euros, which is three times more than expected. It is reminiscent of the French EPR at Flamanville (Manche). The work is still not finished after ten years of delay and a cost multiplied by six.
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