Finland's new OL3 nuclear reactor starts electricity production

Finland's new 1.6 GW Olkiluoto 3, or OL3, nuclear power plant has started electricity production with some 3-4 TWh to be produced during testing before start of commercial operations in July, operator TVO said March 12.

The reactor was connected to the national grid for the first time on March 12 at 1201 local time (1001 GMT) at a power output of 103 MW, it said.

Power output will be gradually increased to 1.6 GW during the four-month test production phase with daily production set to vary considerably, OL3 project director Jouni Silvennoinen said.

Regular electricity production is to start in July 2022.

Once full production has started, OL3 will produce about 14% of Finland's annual electricity consumption, reducing the need for electricity imports by over half, according to TVO.

Last year, Finland imported some 10% of its power demand from Russia via cross border capacity of 1.5 GW.

Finland also has interconnectors to Sweden, Norway and Estonia.

The start of electricity production is a milestone in the joint project with Areva-Siemens, TVO said.

The reactor was originally planned to start in 2009, while estimated project costs tripled.

TVO, which is majority-owned by Finnish industrial companies as well as utility Fortum, already operates two 900 MW reactors, OL1 and OL2, at Olkiluoto.

Finnish day-ahead power averaged around Eur72/MWh ($79/MWh) in 2021, some of Europe's lowest, but above Sweden's northern price zones, exchange data showed, with prices spiking this winter.