Green MEPs have urged the European commission to suspend EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes's responsibilities for nuclear issues following her remarks in support of the sector on Monday. In an open letter to commission president Jose Manuel Barroso the MEPs question the impartiality of her decisions and call for a re-evaluation of the recent EU approval of French aid to a new Finnish reactor. A spokesman for Ms Kroes told ENDS the call was "ludicrous", arguing that all decisions
are taken on competition grounds.
Finland
MEPs urge suspension of Kroes's nuclear remit
Monday, October 8, 2007TVO says won't share nuclear reactor cost overruns with Areva
Friday, September 28, 2007HELSINKI (Thomson Financial, AFX News Limited) - Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) reiterated that it has no intention of sharing the costs resulting from delays in the construction of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor with the plant's supplier Areva.'We have not agreed to share costs. We've got a fixed price with a fixed delivery time. We've made our view clear to the plant's supplier,' chief executive Pertti Simola told Finnish business paper Kauppalehti.
Renewables group questions EC neutrality on nuclear power
Thursday, September 27, 2007Brussels (Platts) - 26 Sep 2007
A renewable energy group said it was "deeply worried" about the neutrality of the European Commission when it comes to nuclear power. The European Renewable Energies Federation, or EREF, was reacting September 26 to a September 25 EC decision. The EC decision was that there was no illegal state aid involved in the 570-million-euro (US$805 million) export credit guarantee from French export credit agency Coface to French nuclear vendor Areva for the Olkiluoto-3 reactor under construction in Finland.
Olkiluoto fall
Thursday, September 20, 200720 September 2007
A serious occupational accident has happened at Finland’s Olkiluoto unit 3, when a person fell eight metres from the zero level of the turbine plant.
The person was taken to hospital and their condition is serious.
Martin Landtman, TVO senior vice-president of the project, said: “We are very sorry. Our goal in occupational safety is that all accidents should be avoided.”
Estonia eyes Finnish nuclear plant
Wednesday, September 19, 2007TALLINN - Top government and energy officials have reiterated Estonia's desire to own a stake in a nuclear power plant that may be built in Finland over the next decade. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said on Sept. 11 that the Baltic state was interested in the nuclear project which, if built, would be Finland's sixth nuclear power plant.
Minor fault shuts down generator at Finnish nuclear power plant
Thursday, September 13, 2007HELSINKI, Finland: Plant officials shut down a nuclear reactor in southern Finland Thursday, after a faulty turbine caused a generator to lose power, but no radiation leak or other damage was reported, officials said.
The 250-megawatt generator, at the Loviisa plant, 90 kilometers (55 miles) east of Helsinki, was shut down but the other 250-megwatt unit was running normally, operations manager Markku Tiitinen said.
EUR 3 billion price tag for construction delay on new reactor at Finland’s Olkiluoto NPP
Wednesday, September 12, 2007ST. PETERSBURG - According to the Elfii consortium of large Finnish electricity users, a construction delay in an experimental new reactor design at Olkiluoto NPP will cost Nordic electricity users EUR 3 billion, the Finnish business daily Kauppalehti reported. Birthe Weijola, 12/09-2007 Elfi director Antti Koskelainen is quoted saying that the cost of the delay is comparable to the investment cost for the whole reactor.
Finnish plant demonstrates nuclear power industry's perennial problems
Tuesday, September 11, 2007By Alan Katz, Bloomberg News, September 6, 2007
Martin Landtman hunched forward in his shirtsleeves as a June storm on Finland's Baltic coast drenched the construction site of the world's most powerful nuclear reactor. As project manager for TVO, the joint venture buying the plant, Landtman has weathered far worse annoyances than rain.
Flawed welds for the reactor's steel liner, unusable coolant pipes and suspect concrete in the foundation already have pushed back the delivery date of the Olkiluoto-3 unit by at least two years.
Beautiful, green and very nuclear
Friday, September 7, 2007(By Dana Spinant) One of Finland’s most unlikely tourist attractions is Olkiluoto, a small island off the west coast, which is home to the first nuclear reactor being built in Europe in more than a decade.
The Perils of Pushing Atomic Energy as the Climate Change Panacea
Thursday, May 10, 2007By Philip Bethge (Der Spiegel)
Is nuclear power on the verge of a renaissance? Its supporters argue that atomic energy is the only way to satisfy humanity’s hunger for more energy without aggravating the effects of global warming. Critics, however, regard the nuclear hype as over-simplistic optimism fueled by an industry in distress.
