Fortum’s head of nuclear power points out why things are progressing in Sweden and not in Finland

Energy company Fortum submitted an application to the Swedish government’s risk sharing mechanism for new nuclear power. Director responsible for Fortum’s nuclear power business Petra Lundström tells Kauppalehti that Fortum is very interested in matters related to nuclear power in Finland as well.

He raises, for example, Fortum’s land purchases near the current Loviisa nuclear power plant site. Lundström emphasizes that the application in Sweden is not yet an investment decision.

“We are not even close to that. This is the first concrete decision that will start a conversation with the Swedish government.”

The state’s risk sharing mechanism is also not the only condition for building a new nuclear power plant, says Lundström.

“It is also important that electricity customers want to make contracts for future electricity. In addition, political stability and partners are needed.”

State aid is still needed

However, according to the report made by Fortum, some kind of governmental risk sharing mechanism has been involved in all nuclear power projects that have progressed recently, Lundström says.

According to Lundström, a state aid or risk sharing program is still not necessarily a threshold issue.

“Now the situation is that quite a bit of nuclear power has been built recently. Risk sharing mechanisms are important to get construction started. When the machinery gets started, the situation may look different.”

According to Lundström, the most important basic condition from the point of view of Finnish nuclear power development is customer demand. There is no similar state support or risk sharing program in Finland as in Sweden.

“Countries progress at different paces,” says Lundström.

According to Fortum, it is still too early to speculate whether a possible investment in nuclear power in Sweden would be different from an investment in Finland.

Others also want to go to the nuclear power plant in Sweden

Although Fortum is investigating nuclear power possibilities in Finland and Sweden, in Sweden the government’s risk sharing model now creates the conditions to start discussions on concrete progress.

According to Lundström, the program established by the Swedish government is huge. The size category of the program is 5,000 megawatts. However, Fortum is not the only applicant and not even the first. Fortum have submitted an application before Videberg Power, Blykalla, Studsvik and Nordic Baseload Power.

Videberg Kraft’s largest owner is the Swedish state with a 60 percent share, and 20 percent are owned by Waterfall and owned by Swedish industrial companies Industrial power. Studsvik, on the other hand, is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

With the Swedish plans, Fortum’s timeframe is conservative, says Lundström.

“This is a long-term development and a possible new reactor would produce electricity in the second half of the 2030s.”