Finland's new 1.6-GW OL3 reactor starts regular electricity production

Finland's 1.6-GW Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear power plant started regular electricity production on April 16 after completing final tests, operator TVO said.

Operation of Europe's first EPR reactor has begun 13 years later than initially planned, with the 14 TWh/year plant in one stroke virtually removing Finland's deficit power market status.

TVO CEO Jarmo Tanhua said start of production at OL3 "stabilizes the price of electricity and plays an important role in the Finnish green transition."

Finnish day-ahead power for April 17 remained at a slight premium to Sweden (except SE4) at Eur100.74/MWh as unit 1 at Olkiluoto started annual refueling on April 16, exchange data showed.

The 890-MW unit is scheduled to return April 24, while OL2 will come offline May 1 for a 16-day refueling outage, TVO said in a separate statement.

The first annual outage at the new OL3 reactor will take place in March 2024, it added.

OL3 test operations resumed mid-March after first tests last autumn detected a valve issue requiring repair.

The final delay deprived Finland of extra supply after Russian imports stopped last summer, boosting winter power prices.

TVO's three OL reactors with a combined 3.5 GW capacity are set to produce 30% of Finland's annual power demand.

The company noted rising support for nuclear in Finland reaching a record 83% compared to only 60% of Finns in favor of nuclear power when the project was launched almost two decades ago.

German-French design

The contractual end of the Olkiluoto 3 project meanwhile will occur once analyses from the latest test production phase are completed and TVO is in a position to make appropriate decisions on the acceptance of the plant and the start of commercial operation, the statement said.

Supplier consortium companies (AREVA and Siemens AG) have joint liability for the contractual obligations until the end of the guarantee period of the plant, TVO added.

The world's first EPR is operating since 2018 at Taishan in China with two more under construction at Flamanville in France and Hinkley Point C in Great Britain.

EPR design evolved in the late 1990s from French 1.5-GW N4 reactors and Germany's Konvoi PWR reactor concept, according to the IAEA.

France continued development after Siemens exited the project in 2011 due to Germany's nuclear phase-out.

Germany's last reactors closed just before midnight on April 15.

European power prices have fallen from record-highs during last year's energy crisis to the lowest level since summer 2021.

In Finland, day-ahead power averaged Eur77.69/MWh in Q1 2023 compared to Eur116.22/MWh in Germany, exchange data showed.