OSLO, December 21 (Reuters) – Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor has started its critical functions, marking the first commissioning of a new nuclear power plant in the Nordic country in more than 40 years, the operator said on Tuesday. this power station, the Finnish group Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO).
The reactor is not yet connected to the Finnish electricity grid; it will be when electricity production reaches 30%, or a capacity of around 0.5 GW, from January 22.
The commissioning of the Olkiluoto reactor, built by a consortium uniting the French Areva and the German Siemens, is more than ten years behind schedule.
The reactor started up at 02:22 GMT Tuesday, according to TVO, which is owned by Finnish company Fortum.
“The EPR has crossed the milestone of the first criticality or first divergence today,” Areva announced in a statement. “The next steps will consist in increasing the power of the reactor in stages until it reaches 100% power”.
The French group specified that the Finnish nuclear safety authority (STUK) had given its authorization to start the search for criticality and then the ramp-up of the reactor on December 16, 2021.
Regular power generation is expected to start on June 6, TVO said, adding that once fully operational, Olkiluoto 3 will meet 14% of the electricity demand in Finland, where four nuclear reactors are already located. (Report Nora Buli; French version Federica Mileo, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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