After years of delay, an EPR nuclear reactor of Franco-German design was put into service this Sunday in Finland, making it possible to cover around 15% of electricity consumption there, announced its operator, the TVO group. After two decades of work, Olkiluoto 3, the most powerful nuclear reactor in Europe, was started up at the end of December 2021 and reached its full electrical output of 1,600 megawatts for the first time on September 30.
Since joining the grid in March 2022, several of its trial months have been marred by delays. But on the night of Saturday to Sunday, the reactor built by the French group Areva finally entered regular service, according to its operator. “Testing is complete and regular power generation began today,” TVO said in a statement. Including the two existing Reactors 1 and 2, “about 30% of Finnish electricity is now produced at Olkiluoto” in southwestern Finland, he added.
The construction of this new reactor began in 2005. Developed by France and Germany, this model of EPR (European pressurized reactor) was designed to revive nuclear energy in Europe after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, in being touted as offering higher power and better safety. Its development, however, represented a technical headache and not only in Finland. In France, the construction of the Flamanville EPR in the north-west of the country, which began in 2007, was also affected by very long delays. Two reactors have already been commissioned in China.