Finland - World Nuclear Outlook Report

Table 3.FI1 Projection of future nuclear capacity in Finland in 2050

Finland has five operable nuclear reactors, three at Olkiluoto and two at Loviisa.

In June 2019, the Finnish government announced a new energy policy with the objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. The policy would see the phase-out of coal power by 2029. It also proposed the commissioning of two nuclear power reactors, and was supportive of operating lifetime extensions for existing reactors.⁹³ However, since this policy was put in place plans for two new reactors, Hanhikivi 1 and Olkiluoto 4, have been cancelled.

Long-term operation

TVO's Olkiluoto 1&2 started up in 1978-80 with a net capacity each of 660 MWe. The units have since been uprated to 880 MWe each and their current planned operating lifetime is 60 years. TVO now proposes progressively to uprate them further to 1000 MWe each. In October 2023 TVO commenced an environmental impact assessment to investigate the possibility of further extending the planned operating lifetimes beyond 60 years by at least 10 years.

Continuation of energy production at the two units at Loviisa is planned until the end of 2050 at the latest, which would require operating lifetimes over 70 years.⁹⁴

New capacity

Large-scale reactors

Plans were advanced for the construction of a Russian VVER-1200 unit at Hanhikivi. However, in May 2022 Fennovoima terminated its contract with Rosatom.

Small-scale reactors

TVO Nuclear Services and the Finnish company Steady Energy have signed an agreement to develop a small modular reactor design for district heating, without electricity generation. The 50 MWt LDR-50 reactor is intended to be online for district heating in Finland by 2030. Construction of a non-nuclear pilot facility at a coal power station in central Helsinki is scheduled to start in late 2025.⁹⁵ Construction. The pilot plant will serve as a full-scale, operational model of the LDR-50 reactor design and will use an electric element to produce heat instead of nuclear fuel.

Fortum’s two-year nuclear feasibility study launched in November 2022 is examining the prerequisites for nuclear new build in Finland and Sweden, with both SMRs and conventional large reactors being considered.⁹⁶

In July 2025 GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Fortum signed an agreement on pre-licensing and engineering activities for site adaptation in Finland and Sweden aiming for deployment of BWRX-300 small modular reactors in the 2030s. Similar agreements were signed with EDF and Westinghouse in partnership with Hyundai Engineering & Construction a month earlier.⁹⁷