Finnish electricity utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) has asked the government for a five-year extension of the period of validity of the Decision-in-Principle of Olkiluoto 4 nuclear power plant unit and to set a new time limit for submitting the construction license application.
On 20 May 2014, TVO submitted an application to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, addressed to the Government, concerning a supplement to the Decision-in-Principle made in May 2010. The application concerns the timing of Olkiluoto 4 project.
TVO justifies the application by the delay of the start-up of Olkiluoto 3 plant unit. In this situation, the company considers it impossible to make significant Olkiluoto 4 related decisions necessary for the construction license application within the current period of validity of the Decision-in-Principle. (At the moment the deadline for submitting the application for the construction license of Olkiluoto 4 is in the end of June 2015.)
"Building of a new nuclear power plant unit has a great significance for the society and means billions of Euros' investment in Finland. Decisions on such an investment need to be timed the most appropriate way considering the production capacity as well as the other operational environment. We propose that the time limit to submit the construction license application would be extended by five years which is equal to the validity period of the initial Decision-in-Principle granted in 2010. Our estimate is that the start of electricity production of Olkiluoto 4 would take place during the latter half of 2020s", says CEO Jarmo Tanhua.
At the same time with TVO´s application Posiva Oy submitted an application concerning a supplement to the Decision-in-Principle related to the final disposal of the spent nuclear fuel of Olkiluoto 4 plant unit.
Photo: How the Olkiluoto site might look after construction of OL4 (Source: TVO)
