Matti KattainenFortum’s head of nuclear power told STT that the company operates in accordance with its supplier agreement, but does not agree to speculate whether and when it could stop using Russian fuel. The company has previously announced that it will request bids from supplier candidates when its business licenses and the current supplier agreement come up for renewal in 2027 and 2030.
Fortum stated in its semi-annual report earlier this year that the fuel supplier cannot be changed overnight due to certification requirements and licensing processes.
“Let’s see who is the most suitable fuel supplier at the latest when the current contract expires,” Kattainen summed up.
In March, Fortum submitted a permit application to continue using the plant until 2050.
Juhani Hyvärinen, professor of nuclear engineering at LUT University, considered Fortum to be in a difficult position due to the relatively small number of potential suppliers. In general, he added, the company will likely need a year or two after signing the supplier contract to receive the first shipment.
According to him, the share of Russian nuclear fuel in the world market is around 20–30 percent YLE interview. The European Commission has reported that reactors made in the Soviet Union or Russia, which are completely dependent on Russian fuel, are still in use in five countries across the EU: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Slovakia.
Hyvärinen stated to both news outlets that there are no insurmountable technical obstacles to changing fuel. For example, the Loviisa nuclear power plant previously used fuel from British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL).
“There is enough uranium in itself, and fuel for the reactors currently in use can certainly be obtained at a reasonable price in the future as well,” he commented to YLE.
Nuclear fuel is not currently on the European Union’s sanctions list. The possibility of bringing it under the scope of sanctions has reportedly been discussed, but the probability of that in the midst of the energy crisis seems low. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told YLE that adding nuclear fuel to the list would require a unanimous decision of the bloc of 27 countries, but refused to comment on the discussions.
Hyvärinen also did not comment on the political decision, according to him.
“I’ve been asked this sometimes and I tend to answer like the prime minister and say that the moral thing to do is to end the war, withdraw behind recognized borders and start repairing the damage,” he said. public broadcasting company.
The use of Russian nuclear fuel became a topic of conversation in Finland on Saturday, when news broke about the police supervising the loading of what turned out to be Russian nuclear fuel onto a plane bound for Slovakia’s Bratislava at Lappeenranta airport.
“We are talking about transporting fresh fuel through Finland. This is completely normal activity” Petteri TiippaDirector General of the Radiation Protection Agency (STUK), stated for YLE.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT