FUTURE POWER: The Olkiluoto plant, under construction, is the world's first third-generation plant (Photo: TVO)
TALLINN 's Estonia is keen to join Finland in the contruction of new nuclear power plants.
Estonia would definitely like to participate in proposed new Finnish plants and is seeking more energy cooperation with Helsinki, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said Sep. 12.
Ansip also suggested that Estonia would be interested in building a second 350 megawatt undersea cable between Finland and Estonia, dubbed Estlink-2.
"The Prime Minister confirmed the Estonian state's interest in building Estlink-2 as well as participating in Finland's sixth nuclear power plant," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Ansip made his comments in talks with his Finnish counterpart, Matti Vanhanen, during two days of meetings on the Estonian Island of Saaremaa.
Estonia, in common with the rest of the region, has been looking for ways to ensure the security and future cost effectiveness of its energy supply, as most of the country's present electricity is generated by burning oil shale, which produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. With European Union rules forcing Estonia to reduce significantly its greenhouse gas emisisons, nuclear power seems one of the few viable alternatives.
Estonian and Finnish energy companies have already built Estlink-1, a 350 megawatt undersea power cable between the two countries.
A Finnish industry consortium has been charged with building a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland, a giant 1,600-megawatt reactor at Olkiluoto.There are no concrete plans for a sixth nuclear power station yet, but sites scrutinised during the Olkiluoto planning process could well be revisited.
Estonia is also involved in a proposed nuclear power plant in Lithuania, but with progress on that stalling amid wrangles over ownership shares and precisely how many partners will be involved, Finland looks like a much more reliable and less convoluted source of nuclear power.
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen did not rule out the possibility of future collaboration. "Estonia has very good reasons. I consider it one possible question for the future", Vanhanen said prior to his meeting with Ansip, describing the Finnish position as showing a "yellow light" 's not red but not yet green - to Estonia regarding nuclear cooperation.
Estonian power company Eesti Energia was quick to reinforce Ansip's pro-nuclear stance. Speaking in Finland Sep. 12, company chief executive Sandor Liive said that Eesti Energia's stake in the Finnish venture would likely be smaller than in the Ignalina, Lithuania plant, but could contribute significantly to Estonia's power needs.
Nuclear power could in the future account for about one-third of Eesti Energia's electricity sales and make up approximately 500 megawatts of the firm's energy portfolio, Liive added.
