The authority demanded 7,000 changes to the nuclear power plant project – Fortum: One thing would make construction much easier

Energy company Fortum’s with the CEO Markus Rauramolla is to give a concrete example of what kind of cooperation between Finland and Sweden would benefit the company he leads.

“Uniform regulation in nuclear power would offer opportunities,” Rauramo told Kauppalehti on Monday in Stockholm.

He participated in a business seminar there, which was organized in connection with a joint meeting of the governments of Finland and Sweden. Both the board meeting and the seminar praised the possibilities of cooperation in many words.

“From the point of view of the costs of nuclear power, scalability and serial production are important. Reactors and nuclear power plants cannot be customized for each market separately, if you want them to be cost-effective,” Rauramo said at the social gathering after the seminar in the lobby of the office of the Swedish Business Association.

Director responsible for Fortum’s interest monitoring Esa Hyvärinen supplemented the CEO’s answer with an example of the British Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant construction project: it was designed based on the Flamanville EPR reactor in France, but the plans had to be modified 7,000 changesto make it fit into UK nuclear power regulation.

Finland now has recent experience in nuclear power construction, Rauramo points out. So would it be worthwhile for Sweden to take a model from Finland’s regulation?

“One way or another,” says Rauramo.

Sweden is planning massive nuclear power construction

Fortum is conducting a two-year study on the conditions for building new nuclear power in Finland and Sweden. It should be completed by the end of this year.

In Sweden in particular, nuclear power is now wanted. The government aims for two new large-scale nuclear power plants, with a combined output of at least 2,500 megawatts, by 2035 and a total of ten large nuclear reactors by 2045. In August, Kauppalehti reported on the proposal of a liquidator appointed by the government on the risk distribution of new nuclear power construction.

Liquidator Mats Dillén suggests that the Swedish state would lend 75 percent of the financing for the construction. The interest rate during the construction period would be the same as the interest rate on the government loan and would rise gradually after the start of production. If the nuclear power business were to go well, the terms of the government loan would be tightened.

What does Rauramo think of the Swedish proposal?

“Without a doubt, important elements have been identified. Nuclear power has long construction times, and construction, as we have seen, is associated with uncertainty. In this Dillén report, we take a position both on the price exchange agreement, in order to gain visibility into the cash flow and the price of the energy produced, and on the other hand, also on the very long construction times.”

A contract for difference means a kind of guaranteed price. If the market price of electricity were less than 80 öyre/kilowatt hour (about 7 cents/kilowatt hour), the report suggests that the producer would receive a difference from the state, if it was more than 80 öyre, it would pay the difference to the state.

The difficulty associated with long construction times is that it can be difficult for companies to get sufficiently long loans from the financial market. Therefore, in Rauramo’s opinion, the loan offered by the state is a welcome proposal.

“Dillén’s report takes a stand on these big issues and gives a bit of a guideline as to where the Swedish government’s thoughts are going,” Rauramo praises.

Interested in seven cents per kilowatt hour?

80 öyre or seven cents per kilowatt hour seems like a wildly high price for an ordinary stock exchange electricity person. How does it sound to the ears of an energy company that produces many different types of power in both Finland and Sweden?

“That is exactly what we are trying to find answers to in our study of new nuclear power. It was already stated in our interim report that getting the construction costs of new nuclear power to an interesting level requires that reactors can be built in series production. At what price level exactly can it be done, we don’t have an answer to that yet.”

Dillén’s report has calculated the construction price for four large-scale nuclear reactors as an example. For them, the budget would be 400 billion kroner, or about 35 billion euros.

The numbers are large, the schedule is tight, the voters are fickle and the Sweden Democrats are exhausted when they have not been consulted. And ten reactors should be built. Can Sweden succeed in its goal?

“The creation of new permanent power production requires a strong will from society. That it is understood that this is needed and that regulation and a market model are built that enable it. The Swedish government shows such determination”, Rauramo assesses.