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Nuclear expertise from Finland

In this blogpost you are going to learn about Finnish nuclear energy industry and about organisations you have possibility to engage with in Nordic Nuclear Forum 2022 and who will provide you the conference full of industry’s latest insights, information and inspiration.

Nordic Nuclear Forum is organized by FinNuclear with the main partners TVO, Posiva (Posiva Oy and Posiva Solutions Oy), VTT, STUK International, Fortum and Fennovoima. Event organizer and its main partners represents Finnish nuclear energy industry, that has gained a remarkable variety of expertise for the entire life cycle of nuclear power in safeguards, regulatory regime, public acceptance manners and practices, plant projects, plant life management, decommissioning and nuclear waste management. From below you can read more about these organisations.

FinNuclear Association members expertise covers the whole lifecycle of nuclear power plants and associated plants. Find all expertises from here. FinNuclear represents Finnish supply chain in nuclear energy industry. It seeks business and collaboration opportunities to Finnish supply chain from national and international nuclear energy projects. FinNuclear is a network of committed suppliers and contractors. FinNuclear has the role to act as the contact window of the Finnish nuclear industry expertise network and as a national coordinator to promote the Finnish nuclear know-how internationally.

TVO is a limited liability company founded in 1969. The nuclear power plant operated by TVO in Olkiluoto in the municipality of Eurajoki has produced electricity for Finnish consumption for 40 years in autumn 2018. In addition to the Olkiluoto 1 and 2 plant units, the Olkiluoto 3 plant unit, started its operation in Olkiluoto in March 2022. With regular electricity production at OL3, soon almost one third of Finland’s electricity will come from one island.

Posiva Oy, established in 1995, is an expert organisation in environmental technology and the leading organisation in nuclear waste final disposal. As the first organization in the world it constructs a deep geological repository ONKALO ® in Olkiluoto, Finland. Posiva is responsible for the final disposal of the spent nuclear fuel of its owners, nuclear utilities TVO and Fortum. Posiva is also in charge of research and development work regarding the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel as well as the construction and operation of the encapsulation plant and the disposal facility.

Posiva Solutions Oy, established in June 2016, is a subsidiary of Posiva Oy. Posiva Solutions focuses on consulting and selling the know-how Posiva has accumulated over the last 40 years from its research and development, site selection, design, construction and stakeholder engagement activities in the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Posiva Solutions pro­vides tai­lored ser­vices and so­lu­tions re­gard­ing nu­clear waste man­age­ment, to­gether with an ex­ten­sive co­op­er­a­tion net­work.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is one of Europe’s leading research institutions. It supports the nuclear industry and regulators internationally through its comprehensive and profound expertise as well as unique experimental and computational infrastructure. VTT is creating sustainable growth, jobs and wellbeing and brings exponential hope by bringing together people, business, science and technology to solve the biggest challenges of our time.

STUK International develops and improves radiation and nuclear safety worldwide. Company offers radiation and nuclear safety services to authorities and service providers outside of Finland.

Fortum with over 40 years of expertise offers outstanding expertise and innovative solutions for all phases of the nuclear plant life cycle: from the design and licensing of a new plant through safe operation of the nuclear power plant all the way to the decommissioning and final disposal of nuclear waste. Fortum Nuclear Services offer innovative solutions for the nuclear power industry that help to ensure high levels of safety and the best economic performance.

Fennovoima Fennovoima was established in 2007 by electricity consumers: Finnish companies and municipalities in need of safe, reliable and climate friendly energy supply. Fennovoima builds Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant to a greenfield site in Pyhäjoki in Northern Finland extending the economic and employment effects throughout Finland. Hanhikivi 1 creates electricity at a stable price for its owners and will strengthen Finland’s energy self-sufficiency and helps to achieve our climate targets.

High level education and research

The safe use of nuclear energy requires deep knowledge. This nuclear knowhow is gained in Finland from great amount of studies and long-term research. To mention few research highlights Aalto University has developed several computational tools for reactor and radiation physics. One example from these tools is Serpent for the safety analyses of current and future nuclear fission reactors – developed together with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.

Lappeenranta University and Helsinki University are as well researching many areas in nuclear industry. Lappeenranta University of Technology is working on research areas including Thermal hydraulics for nuclear power plants, including experiments in thermal and fluid dynamics as well as accident situation and safety analyses. Helsinki University is researching among many other things Ion exchange – applications and research on the fundamentals of separating harmful or useful chemical trace components.

In addition to universities research centres also GTK and VTT are researching different areas in nuclear field. GTK Geological Survey of Finland is an internationally oriented geoscience research agency operating under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The nuclear power sector focuses on the geological disposal of nuclear waste, nuclear power plant site selection and researching nuclear power’s long-term safety aspects.