New Russian nuclear power plant sparks debate in Finland

ANKARA

By Murat Temizer

Finland’s decision to approve the construction of a nuclear reactor by a Russian energy company has caused several experts to believe that the country is becoming too dependent on foreign sources of energy.

"In our opinion it is strange for Finland to be increasing dependency of this kind when it could be increasing its domestic production through distributed and renewable generation of its own," says Philip Lewis, expert and CEO of global energy think-tank VaasaETT.

While Finland is 100 percent dependent on Russia for natural gas, this has not been the case concerning electricity. Sweden is the major source of imported electricity into Finland. 

Indeed, Finland imported 14 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity from Sweden in 2012, and only 4 million MWh from Russia in 2012, according to figures from the Finnish national electricity transmission grid operator, Fingrid.

Finland is taking a different path compared to Europe in general with regards to Russia, says Veikka Lahtinen, a researcher from Finnish think-tank Demos Helsinki. 

The Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has stated that cooperation with Russia's Rosatom was not a problem for Finland's international reputation. Neither European sanctions nor the Ukrainian crisis involving Moscow will affect Finland's cooperation with Russia's state-run nuclear company Rosatom, he said two weeks ago at a press conference.

Following the Finnish government's decision to grant permission to build a new nuclear reactor, partly owned by Russian energy company Rosatom, in the northern part of the country, the Green Party announced two weeks ago that they could not continue participating in a government that supports nuclear energy.

"The problem is that it has been estimated that the latest nuclear plant in Finland will not fully be commercially operational until at least 2018, and this means that Finland has a supply shortage risk for at least three years," says Lewis.

"Many skeptics say that nuclear power is costing Finland more than the benefits it can potentially provide," adds researcher Veikka Lahtinen.

Currently almost 25 percent of all energy consumption in Finland is provided by nuclear power. Finland has four nuclear reactors in the country - two boiling water reactors supplied by Sweden - and the other two reactors are supplied by Russia.

According to experts, Finland has had more than enough time to find domestic alternatives and they think that Finland is at risk of becoming over-dependent on nuclear energy and Russia.

Renewable energy sources, including bioenergy, hydropower, wind power and solar energy, provide one fourth of Finland’s total energy consumption.

The country’s most important renewable sources of energy include bioenergy, hydropower, wind power and solar energy, according to Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

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