The much-touted resurgence of the European nuclear industry, promoted as a local solution to climate change, is already running into trouble.
Construction of Europe’s first new nuclear power station since 1991 – the European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) at Olkiluoto, Finland – started in August 2005.
Now the Finnish nuclear regulator, STUK, has uncovered a series of safety “deficiencies” in the new-style plant’s manufacture and design. This setback has already caused it to fall 18 months behind schedule and about â¬700 million over budget.
The idea that nuclear power is making a comeback globally and that Finland is at the forefront of this revival is no more than “hype”, according to Jorma Aurela, a senior energy official in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. “I always want to put ice cubes in the hats of those who talk about a nuclear renaissance,” he says. “Nuclear power has its role, but it is not the answer to climate change.”
The EPR is not scheduled to operate commercially before 2011. It represents the favoured design for future reactors in the UK.