How nuclear energy goals to wean Finland off Russian power – DW – 11/12/2025 | EUROtoday

Olkiluoto island on the western coast of Finland was once simply an power hub for the nation bordering to Russia. But with the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it grew to become strategically vital as Helsinki determined it might now not depend on Russian power.

Up till then, the nation had been receiving half of its power imports from the neighboring nation, with which it shares a 1,300-kilometer (807-mile) border. They included electrical energy, oil and pure gasoline deliveries.

“Before 2022, there had been the optimistic hope we had gotten past an era where it’s all about enlarging territory and invading sovereign countries and we could live happily in peace having trade,” says Sari Multala, Finland’s Minister of Climate and the Environment.

“But then, we understood that was not the case and that we had to take care of our own sovereignty, also when it comes to energy. We cannot depend on a hostile partner,” she informed DW.

Helsinki dropped its previously impartial stance and introduced it could be part of the Western protection alliance NATO. Moscow reduce off electrical energy provides to Finland, supposedly as a result of Helsinki refused to pay for them within the Russian foreign money, the ruble.

Russia’s share in Finland’s power import has since gone right down to nearly zero.

Oil, which made up for 19% of Finland’s power consumption in 2019, is now being imported from Norway, the UK and the US. Natural gasoline, on the time representing 5% within the nation’s power combine, is imported in its liquefied LNG type.

Finland’s state-owned firm Gasgrid Finland, in the meantime, has commissioned a brand new floating LNG terminal within the southern port of Inga.

Nuclear power and renewables are key

Finland’s new nuclear reactor, Olkiluoto 3 is among the largest on this planet with a complete capability of 1,600 mega-watts (MW), and has boosted Finland’s nuclear share in electrical energy manufacturing from 28% in 2022 to 39% now.

But that got here at a price. Olkiluoto 3’s price ticket nearly quadrupled to €11billion ($12.7 billion). Building it took 18 years as an alternative of 4 as initially deliberate. The skyrocketing prices had operator TVO cancel plans for a fourth reactor on Olkiluoto island.

“Consumers are benefiting from low electricity prices. And we have created 5,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he informed DW throughout a latest press tour of the reactor’s premises.

But different electrical energy sources additionally contributed to Finland’s power shift, significantly renewables.

In 2024, onshore wind farms made up 24% of the nation’s electrical energy manufacturing, in contrast with 14% in 2022.

For Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, professor on the Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies on the University of Helsinkirenewables are the best way to go as a result of nuclear, biomass, hydropower and wind power would make the Finnish mannequin “resilient.”

“But it’s very expensive to build new nuclear power plants nowadays because of the high safety standards. And we should move away from fossil energy. It’s not a good idea to be dependent on autocratic countries — be it Russia, Saudi Arabia or the US,” he informed DW.

Tynkkynen added, nonetheless, that Finland had not managed to attain full power independence from Russia. “Finnish energy company Fortum has tried for the past three years to substitute Russian uranium deliveries, but has not yet been able to do so,” he mentioned.

Other European nations have additionally made a shift

Thijs van de Graf, affiliate professor for worldwide politics at Ghent University in Belgium and an skilled on power coverage, agrees that the correct mix is vital.

“Most European countries have looked towards other energy sources after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” he informed DW. “The recipe for energy security includes energy efficiency, electrification and renewables.”

He added this was significantly the case in nations the place there was not as a lot political urge for food for nuclear as in Finland.

According to a May 2025 ballot by UK polling institute Verian, 68% of Finns have a optimistic opinion of nuclear power, which is why operator TVO would not rule out constructing further nuclear reactors.

Pasi Tuohimaa is communications supervisor at Posiva, an organization owned by TVO and Fortum and specializing within the closing disposal of spent nuclear gasoline within the Onkalo storage facility situated on the energy plant website .

Posiva performs a vital function in making certain the security of nuclear waste administration in Finland.

On a latest afternoon, Tuohimaa was main a gaggle of journalists by the Onkalo mission which is to open within the coming months.

The waste of the nation’s 5 current nuclear energy crops might be saved there for good in one-ton capsules which are to be saved in chambers within the floor.

Operator Posiva has thus far spent between €500 million ($577 million) and €1 billion on the storage facility encompassing 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) of tunnels about 450 meters (1,476 toes) under floor stage.

“We have a solution to take care safely of the spent nuclear fuel. Excavating tunnels is not that difficult. Finland is full of bedrock. So there can be other places here and abroad,” Tuohima informed DW.

Finland’s Climate and Environment Minister Sari Multala says the Nordic nation is presently “paving the way for more nuclear power.”

Speaking with journalists on the tour of the Posiva website, he mentioned the federal government was presently “reviewing our nuclear energy legislation to facilitate a faster permitting processes and investigating whether nuclear [power] will need some financial support or risk-sharing mechanisms in the future.”

Could wind energy be the quick resolution?

But Anni Mikkonen, CEO of business affiliation Renewables Finland, objects to the present authorities’s pro-nuclear coverage arguing that wind farms might be accomplished a lot quicker.

“There’s a really strong project pipeline that you can start building when electricity is needed. We could double onshore capacity within ten years,” she informed DW.

She additionally mentioned that “additional [Finish] power could be used for electric cars or exported to other countries” in order that these might additionally grow to be extra unbiased from Russian power imports.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler