INTERVIEW - No problem financing a new Finnish n-plant - TVO
Date: 24-May-02
Country: FINLAND
Author: Paul de Bendern
Finland's parliament is expected to approve by a slim majority on Friday a government proposal to build the first nuclear reactor in almost three decades to satisfy rising energy needs, reduce the dependence on imports and meet greenhouse gas emission targets.
Nuclear energy produces negligible greenhouse gas emissions.
Tellisuuden Voima Oy (TVO), which runs two of four nuclear power plants in Finland, is the only candidate to build the reactor but critics have warned that the project will not be financially viable and that the public would have to foot the bill.
"TVO will finance the construction by itself. We don't need taxpayers' money," TVO Chief Executive Mauno Paavola told Reuters in an interview. "Our shareholders will put new capital into the construction but the majority of the money will be borrowed from capital markets."
Such a move would be the first in more than a decade by a West European government as most European Union countries have sought to boost alternative energy sources.
Paavola said he expects the reactor, which would be Finland's fifth, to have a capacity of 1,000-1,600 megawatts and be located in Olkiluoto or Loviisa. It would be ready by 2008 at the earliest.
TVO is majority owned by Pohjolan Voima Oy, where forestry giants UPM-Kymmene and Stora Enso have stakes. Fortum , the Finnish energy company, is the second biggest shareholder, owning 27 percent of TVO.
Separately, state-controlled Fortum runs the other two reactors in Loviisa.
SAFEGUARD INDUSTRY, STABILISE PRICES
Finnish industry is heavily in favour of another nuclear reactor as they say they are already too dependent on imported energy, which accounts for 71 percent of all energy supplies.
Two-thirds of imported energy comes from Russia, with the rest from Sweden and Norway, said Paavola. Some 30 percent of Finland's electricity supply comes from nuclear power compared to around 50 percent in Sweden.
"Another reactor would stabilise electricity prices in the future. This is very important for industry," Paavola said.
Because much of electricity produced in the Nordic countries came from hydropower, any large fluctations in weather sharply change prices, he said.
He also fears Sweden and Norway will not be able to supply Finland with enough electricity at reasonable prices in the long term as they themselves will need to rely more on imports.
"In Scandinavia there is no extra capacity under construction and electricity demand is increasing there so we have no guarantee that in a few years we will be able to import electricity from them," Paavola warned.
Opponents to new nuclear plants say expanding nuclear power is costly, dangerous and a health risk. They are calling for the expansion of alternative energy sources, such as wind and hydro power.
But Paavola said he expected European other countries, notably Britain, to follow suit soon and move to build another reactor to meet rising energy demands and pressure to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
"We now have a nuclear renaissance," he said.
