An automatic shutdown yesterday of unit 2 at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in Finland was caused by a fault in the purification system for the reactor cooling water, which led to a temporary increase in radiation levels in the circuit, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima said. The emergency standby resulting from the incident has now ended and repair work is under way to bring the unit back online.

"Onkalo is a game changer for the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said yesterday, referring to the world’s first-ever deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel that is under construction in Olkiluoto, Finland.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö yesterday discussed the use of nuclear energy in support of climate change goals, nuclear verification and possibilities for cooperation in nuclear safety projects in the Arctic. They also discussed strengthening cooperation between Finland and the IAEA, the upcoming Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and nuclear verification in Iran, including the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plans of Action.

Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority has notified the authorities in charge of radiation safety in the countries that have supplied the country with uranium for its nuclear power plants of Finland's intention to begin the final disposal of used nuclear fuel in the mid-2020s. Normal verification inspections of nuclear materials cannot be performed once the materials have been finally disposed of, and so procedures related to such inspections must be specified before the initiation of final disposal.

Finnish utility Fortum and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have entered into a three-year cooperation to create an open source tool for techno-economic modelling of small modular reactor projects.

The development of a national nuclear industry facilitates a country's economic growth while at the same time keeping in harmony with low-carbon and sustainable development, Yaroslav Mozdakov, director for communications and international affairs at Rusatom Energy International, said last week during a webinar hosted by the Expert Group on Resource Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. REIN is a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Finnish waste management company Posiva announced it signed a "significant" building services agreement at the end of August related to the construction of the used fuel encapsulation plant and repository at the Olkiluoto site. The signing of the latest agreement follows that of a contract last year with the same consortium.

Fuel loading at the Olkiluoto 3 EPR will now not take place until March next year, according to a revised schedule provided to Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj by the Areva-Siemens consortium. Grid connection is now scheduled for October 2021, with regular electricity production due to start in February 2022.

A comprehensive reform of Finnish nuclear energy legislation is needed, a working group appointed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has concluded. It highlighted the ambiguity of current legislation, changes in the operating environment of nuclear facilities, and expected developments.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has today submitted an environmental impact assessment programme to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on very low-level radioactive waste disposal at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The alternatives are constructing a new near-surface disposal facility or expanding the deep geological repository currently in use.

Finnish utility Fortum has begun the environmental impact assessment procedure for the operation of the two Loviisa nuclear units beyond their current licences. The two-stage process will take about 18 months to complete.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj expects to receive a revised schedule in August from the Areva-Siemens consortium for the commissioning of the Olkiluoto 3 EPR. Fuel loading, which had been planned for last month, has been delayed by among other things the COVID-19 pandemic.